Chapter 5: I Have Come to Collect What Is Yours

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【First death at the hands of Zhu Yuanzhang completed. Reward: 100 million RMB. Please keep up the good work...】
【Countdown: 1 minute...】
"Yes!"
"Finally completed the first kill. That was not easy at all!"
"Nine more times to go. Keep it up, keep going."
Chen Lin glanced at the countdown. He didn't intend to spend money to buy more time this time; he would just continue online shopping.
Back in the carriage, he had thought of a few more things he could sell for money in ancient times.
Soap, perfume, glassware, hot pot seasonings, seeds—he ordered them all.
Chen Lin suddenly thought of something: "System, every time I travel, it’s a quantum-level restructuring. Does that mean the seeds will also be restored to their optimal state?"
【Theoretically, yes...】
That settled it.
While Chen Lin was racing against time to shop online, Mao Xiang and Zhu Yuanzhang arrived at the restaurant in the middle of the night.
"Are these all things Chen Lin brought back?" Zhu Yuanzhang pointed at the suitcase and the backpack.
"Yes, Your Majesty. They all appeared out of thin air along with him."
"For instance, this lighter."
Mao Xiang retrieved the lighter from Chen Lin's corpse on the spot and flicked it open with a click.
Zhu Yuanzhang's eyes widened: "This, this..."
"Give it to me, let me see."
Click, click...
Zhu Yuanzhang was having a blast playing with it, while Mao Xiang ordered his men to dump everything out of the backpack and suitcase.
Couldn't open the zippers? No matter, they just cut them open with knives and laid everything out on the floor.
"Your Majesty..."
Mao Xiang reminded him softly. Zhu Yuanzhang snapped out of his fascination with the lighter and pointed at the bottle of light soy sauce on the floor: "That one."
Mao Xiang quickly stepped forward, picked it up, and presented it with both hands.
"What is this?"
Mao Xiang was just as clueless.
Clink, clink!
Zhu Yuanzhang tapped the soy sauce bottle with his fingernail: "It’s actually high-grade glass. Such a precious glass bottle, what could this black liquid inside be?"

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"Your Majesty, look at these. This shiny packaging (instant noodles)—the characters on them look a bit like our Great Ming script, but the strokes are much more simplified."
"And these dirt lumps and red fruits (potatoes and tomatoes)—they are crops never seen before in the Great Ming."
"Could these be items from the realm of immortals?"
Zhu Yuanzhang was stunned: "The realm of immortals!"
"Are you so certain he is an immortal?"
Mao Xiang spoke cautiously: "Originally, I didn't believe it either, but Chen Lin was resurrected right before my eyes. I have no choice but to believe it!"
Zhu Yuanzhang still wasn't entirely convinced. He put down the soy sauce bottle, picked up a pack of White Pagoda cigarettes, and clumsily flicked one out to put in his mouth.
"How do you use this?"
Mao Xiang hurried over, mimicked Chen Lin’s actions, and lit it for Zhu Yuanzhang with a click.
"Your Majesty, you should inhale. I saw Chen Lin do it this way; he seemed to enjoy it quite a bit."
"Is that so? Let me try."
*Sshhh—*
"Cough, cough, cough! What is this? Cough, cough..."
"You call this enjoyable? Are you trying to poison me?!"
Mao Xiang quickly knelt: "I wouldn't dare! I really did see Chen Lin smoking this. My men can testify to it."
Zhu Yuanzhang threw the cigarette away, stomped on it, and said: "Then we shall wait here until tomorrow. I want to see how the corpse disappears and how this so-called immortal resurrects himself..."
While time in the fifteenth year of Hongwu ticked away hour by hour, Chen Lin’s time was vanishing second by second.
Finally, the time arrived when Chen Lin had been killed upon the restaurant's opening.
Mao Xiang, having identified the pattern and knowing the body would likely disappear at this time, woke Zhu Yuanzhang, who had been sleeping in a silk shop across the street, to witness the miracle together.
The two stared at the bloody corpse. The atmosphere was eerie and silent; they could almost hear their own heartbeats.
*Poof~*
!!!
Zhu Yuanzhang was shocked!
"It really disappeared!"
Mao Xiang hurriedly opened the doors and windows: "Your Majesty, look! Chen Lin has appeared!"
Zhu Yuanzhang rushed to the window, staring intently at Chen Lin, who was walking out while stretching and setting up the two wooden signs again.
"He’s resurrected! Truly brought back from the dead!"
"Shall we go over, Your Majesty?"
Zhu Yuanzhang kept his eyes fixed on the other side: "No rush. Have those things been returned to their original places?"

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"They have been."
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded: "Very well. I want to see what he intends to do next..."
What could Chen Lin do? Although he found it strange that no one was staked out at the shop this time, he still had to do business. He set up the two wooden signs and continued his quest to get himself killed.
Moreover, he suspected that Zhu Yuanzhang and Mao Xiang were likely observing from nearby. Whether he could provoke Zhu Yuanzhang again depended on his next move.
"Come take a look, come see! Free tasting of the 'Nine-Extermination Clan' set meal!"
"Signature dish: Pork meatballs stewed with roe deer, specially seasoned with pork belly fat and horse trotters for texture. Take a bite of the pig’s head meat and enjoy good fortune for the year!"
Gradually, some curious passersby gathered around. Free food—everyone wanted to take advantage.
"Still watching? This is a crime punishable by the extermination of the nine clans!"
"At least he'll be famous for eternity; it's worth it..."
"I heard they even dug up the earthworms in the Chen family's fields and sliced them vertically..."
"How much hatred does this person have for his family? Even after raiding his home, they won't let him go. Is he really aiming for the nine-clan extermination?"
"Truly, the poor in the bustling city are ignored, but a crime in the deep mountains brings the nine clans down. The straightest path is what the world cannot hold onto..."
"Let's go, quickly! In case the imperial court can't find his nine clans, they might use us onlookers as substitutes..."
(Still watching? I'm talking to you in front of the screen. Anyone who sees this is the tenth clan. Keep watching, and they'll come for you too!)
Warned by those in the know, the opportunists fled like they were avoiding a plague once they realized the situation.
Soon, a three-mile radius around the shop became a no-man's-land again.
"Tsk, are they really that afraid of death? How boring."
Chen Lin smacked his lips, lit a White Pagoda cigarette, and leaned against the door, waiting for his target to show up.
Zhu Yuanzhang, watching from across the street, said viciously: "What a crafty immortal; he’s acting so fearless because he knows he can't die!"
Mao Xiang looked thoughtful: "Your Majesty, I suspect he is intentionally seeking death. Could he be practicing some kind of technique that requires constant death and resurrection to increase his power?"
Zhu Yuanzhang’s eyes lit up: "That makes some sense..."
"No, wait. If so, why doesn't he provoke ordinary people? Death is death; wouldn't that be simpler?"
Mao Xiang pondered for a moment: "Could it be because Your Majesty is the True Dragon, the Son of Heaven? Perhaps if he is killed by the hand of the Emperor, he gains greater benefits?"
Zhu Yuanzhang nodded: "That is a possibility, though it is only speculation."
"An immortal..."
"Interesting. I want to see how this immortal faces me, the True Dragon, the Son of Heaven. Let's go, we shall meet him..."