Chapter 2490 — It's Me!

But now that Yu Xiaoke was sitting right beside her, Yang Qiqi could hardly shoo her away, could she? Helpless, Yang Qiqi had no choice but to give up and look for another chance to make her move.

"Ahem, ahem..." Yu Xiaoke turned her head to glance at Wei Zhao, and seeing that he seemed not to have noticed her, she hastily coughed twice.

Seeing Yu Xiaoke settle into her seat and bury herself in her food, Yang Qiqi had meant to try again for an opportunity, but who could have guessed that Yu Xiaoke would cough twice more and startle her half to death, her heart nearly jumping out of her chest, forcing her to snatch her hand back once again.

Wei Zhao, at this point, also turned his head toward Yu Xiaoke with a look of some exasperation. After a moment's hesitation, however, he still said nothing more. He knew Yu Xiaoke had probably caught on to something, but with Yang Qiqi present, there was nothing he could say.

Just then, Yang Qiqi's phone rang. She took it out, glanced at the caller display, and quickly rose to her feet. "Young hero, I need to take this call—wait for me a moment..."

With that, Yang Qiqi hurried off, making her way to a corner of the restaurant, where she cautiously answered the phone.

Yang Qiqi's departure gave Yu Xiaoke the space to make contact with Wei Zhao.

"Hey... it's me..." Yu Xiaoke lowered her voice and said to Wei Zhao with a meaningful look, "It's me!"

Wei Zhao was somewhat at a loss for words. He had not wanted to acknowledge Yu Xiaoke in the first place, for fear that his own affairs would drag her into trouble—it was not that he was deliberately avoiding her. But now that Yu Xiaoke had taken the initiative to recognize him, Wei Zhao could hardly pretend not to know her.

"So it's Heroine Yan! It's been a long time!" Wei Zhao said.

"It really is you!" Hearing Wei Zhao call her Heroine Yan, Yu Xiaoke grew excited at once. So he really was the Male Thief—but if he was the Male Thief, why was he still such a lecher? Lowering her voice, she asked, "Male Thief, that little tart just now was...?"

"Heroine Yan, this is no place to talk. Come to my room tonight and we'll speak there," Wei Zhao said, unwilling to explain anything here.

"Mm, all right!" Hearing his words, Yu Xiaoke understood that he might have some difficulty he could not speak of, and did not press him. She nodded and answered at once.

Wei Zhao's attention, meanwhile, was fixed on Yang Qiqi not far away! Though she was at a distance and had her back to him, so that he could not make out the shape of her lips, she had overlooked one important fact: Wei Zhao was a peak mid-stage Earth-rank expert. If he chose to eavesdrop on her conversation, he could naturally hear every word without missing a single one.

"Hello... yes, I've already found the blood of an earth-attribute heaven-rank spirit beast. It really is here... I know, I'll do my best to trade for it... yes, for Xiao Jiu's illness, I will get my hands on it..." Here Yang Qiqi's tone turned somewhat bitter. She had come full of confidence with the blue crystal—who could have guessed it would be snatched from her right at the entrance to the market? She had no idea whether she could get it back from Wei Zhao.

To keep her family from worrying, Yang Qiqi had not told them the truth. Even if she did, it would be of no help and would only add to their worries. Better to find a way herself and get the blue crystal back.

"Yes, I know, I'll be careful. Once I have the blood of the earth-attribute heaven-rank spirit beast, I'll hurry back—and Xiao Jiu's illness can't be delayed..." Yang Qiqi said. "All right, I understand. Goodbye..."

After the call, Yang Qiqi heaved a long sigh, put away her phone with a heart full of misgivings, cast a complicated glance at Wei Zhao in the distance, gritted her teeth, and walked firmly back.

What Yang Qiqi did not know was that every word of her conversation had reached Wei Zhao's ears without a single omission—and Wei Zhao's mood had grown somewhat complicated as well!

Yang Qiqi was doing this to save someone? She was trading the blue crystal for the blood of that earth-attribute heaven-rank spirit beast in order to save a life?

Come to think of it, that made sense. Yang Qiqi was a rather conservative person—last time, merely because he had seen her body, she had wanted to run him through with a knife. Yet now she was throwing herself at him of her own accord, seducing him. If she were not driven by some desperate necessity, she surely would not do such a thing!

If Yang Qiqi had merely coveted the blood of that earth-attribute heaven-rank spirit beast for some other purpose, Wei Zhao would never have helped her. Getting the blue crystal back would have been only natural. But Yang Qiqi was doing this to save a life, and so Wei Zhao's thinking changed.

Saving a life—that feeling of being driven to desperation, of clenching one's teeth and pressing on regardless—Wei Zhao knew it well. Had it not been so for him back in the Ice Palace? To cure Feng Xiaoxiao, no matter how bitter or exhausting it was, even at the risk of his life, Wei Zhao had gritted his teeth and endured.

And Yang Qiqi now was probably in just such a state of mind. Otherwise, she would never have gritted her teeth and endured his groping.

At this thought, Wei Zhao actually felt a little sorry for Yang Qiqi. This cool-tempered girl was not so bad at heart after all—at least, she was stealing the blue crystal back to save a life. That reason Wei Zhao could understand, and could accept...

Forget it. He would find a chance to let her steal it back. After all, the heaven-rank cultivator who possessed the blood of the earth-attribute heaven-rank spirit beast wanted something from a water-attribute heaven-rank spirit beast, and Wei Zhao happened to have just such a vial on him. Once Yang Qiqi returned the blue crystal to him, Wei Zhao would simply use what that cultivator needed to trade the blue crystal back.

After Yang Qiqi returned, she said little and ate quietly. What surprised her somewhat was that Wei Zhao's roving, lecherous hands seemed to have settled down, no longer groping at her—which let her eat her dinner in peace.

After the meal, Wei Zhao, Yang Qiqi, Han Xiaopo, and Yu Xiaoke went together to the service desk in the lobby, booked four adjoining rooms, and then headed upstairs together.

Yang Qiqi did not know what relationship existed between Wei Zhao and Yu Xiaoke, but seeing the two of them talk, she guessed they probably knew each other. Still, she had no intention of speaking to Yu Xiaoke—her only goal was to get the blue crystal back. As for who Wei Zhao knew, that had little to do with her.

Upstairs, the four of them went to their respective rooms. Once Wei Zhao was back in his, he casually tossed his backpack onto the sofa—which was also to create an opportunity for Yang Qiqi to steal it! Of course, at this moment the backpack contained nothing at all except a single blue crystal.

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