Sigh!

　　Xu Que fell back onto the bed, consumed by boredom once again. Placing an order with the Debt Collector Beats Debtors had given him some hope, but the wait time of one month to ten years on the display screen was such a downer. It had extinguished his joy like a bucket of cold water, drenching him from head to toe.

　　He could have accepted the wait if it had been a month or even a few months. However, ten years! That was just too long! He might have even returned to Earth by then.

　　Sigh!

　　Xu Que sighed again. He could only pray that the Act Tough King Ye Qiu would deliver, and that he would receive the SIM card before he returned to Earth! Without a SIM card, he couldn’t even check if the booster could receive signals from Earth!

　　How depressing!

　　A third sigh.

　　The next instant, his gaze swept toward the other two Big Growth Gift Bags in the System interface. Should he try again? What if it gives him a SIM card right away this time? Yeah! What if? Anticipation filled Xu Que once more, and he quickly leaped from his bed. To maximize his luck, he carefully washed his hands before activating the Lucky Aura.

　　He then opened the second Big Growth Gift Bag.

　　Swoosh!

　　As with his previous try, a few beams of light flew straight into the blank spaces in his parcel.

　　Basic Puppet Spell, Basic Puppet Spell, Signal Booster!

　　“What the hell, what’s going on? Where’s my SIM?” Xu Que buried his head in his hands, apparently desperate.

　　The only difference was that the second bag just had one extra Basic Puppet Spell.

　　“This can’t be it. I’ll try the last one!” He bit the inside of his cheeks and activated the Lucky Aura again.

　　High-Class Puppet Spell, Signal Booster, Signal Booster, Rent-free Card!

　　“You must be kidding me!” Xu Que screamed agonizingly.

　　Still no SIM card! He didn’t have the only card that mattered – the SIM card – and got a Rent-free card instead!

　　Rent-free your ass! I don’t need a crappy Rent-free card!

　　This third gift bag was nothing but a colossal disappointment to Xu Que. It only gave him an extra signal booster, a rent-free card, and an upgraded Puppet Spell. It functions exactly like the previous one, just that high-level spells can be used on cultivators who are at the Great Vehicle Stage.

　　To Xu Que, it was something redundant, though nice to have. He was, however, trapped in this illusory realm. Forget about cultivators in the Great Vehicle Stage – he couldn’t even find a cultivator in the Qi Refining Stage! As for the Rent-free card, all it does is waive the rent for anything rentable in the store for a day and will expire after three uses!

　　Sigh, forget it, I should be happy with the Puppet Spell. With this Rent-free card, it’s time to run amok…pooh, no, time to act tough!

　　Xu Que gathered himself, and, with gusto, recovered himself as the Act Tough King! He strolled out of the chamber with both hands behind his back, and gazed thoughtfully upon the landscape. A brief moment later, he had put on a neat set of an Imperial Guard uniform and made his way to the next chamber. He strode on, knowing the palace routes like the back of his hand. Who would have guessed that he was no more than an outsider who had just entered the palace!

　　After all, he had spent the past months observing the palace maids and the Empress where they sleep, eat, or bathe, all with his drone as he lay comfortably on the bed with nothing better to do. He considered these just observational records of how the ancients lived, more scientifically known as archaeological work! His archeological work had familiarized him with the structure of the entire palace.

　　He headed to the Emperor’s chamber – the Flying Frost Palace! With the help of the drone, he easily avoided the eyes of the imperial patrol guards. He quickly used a Basic Puppet Spell and sneaked in. After a while, he slipped out again and returned to the Empress Dowager’s Pure Heart Palace.

　　He quickly called up the System Store. With the Rent-free card, he started to order all kinds of cutting-edge weapons.

　　“Tanks? I’ll take five squadrons of those!”

　　“Assault Amphibious Vehicles, five squadrons too!”

　　“Tracked Artillery Vehicles, ten squadrons!”

　　“Rocket cars? Give me 20 squadrons!”

　　“Bombers? Ten echelons!”

　　“Fighter planes? Ten echelons!”

　　“Iron Man? 20…no, give me 50 units!”

　　…

　　Xu Que squandered the rent-free card like a king. He milked everything rentable from the System as long as it was possible. He had merely wanted to vent his frustration, to act tough, and to feel good! Before long, many tanks and all kinds of armored vehicles filled the enormous space in front of the Pure Heart Palace. All types of combat aircraft lined up on the sides; he even had 50 different models of Iron Man,which, like an army of steel, waited for his orders. Xu Que’s mental orders controlled all of them. He stood outside the Pure Heart Palace, and, at the full array laid out before him, his mood finally turned better.

　　“Miss Azi, Young Princess, stop singing karaoke and see me act tough instead!” Xu Que yelled toward the Pure Heart Palace.

　　He jumped onto a tank. Merely standing on it lifted his heart to high spirits. With so much firepower, Xu Que felt a pressing need to conduct a military parade that marched from within the palace to outside the castle gates, circling the Imperial City before returning to the castle. It would be impressive!

　　…

　　At the same time, the air was heavy in the palace’s smelting house. Monarch Jin had summoned 1,000 dare-to-die soldiers from the archery squad and made them go through specialized training. They trained with pistols for a whole day and finally perfected their aims. They were far from good, but the Emperor had ordered them to eradicate Xu Que tonight. Their mission tonight was to prevent this technology from flowing into other countries, and every second of delay was costly.

　　“Hmph, Hua An, when today comes again next year, it will be your death anniversary!” A cold smile rested on Monarch Jin’s lips as he scanned the 1,000 soldiers in the smelting house. He had already understood from the butler that Xu Que had a Gatling Gun that could kill several people instantly. However, he brimmed with confidence. 1,000 soldiers firing at the same time would be much more powerful than that thing called a Gatling Gun!

　　“Soldiers! After tonight, be it in life or death, you will all be heroes of the Li Nation!” Monarch Jin turned toward the 1,000 soldiers and raised his cup.

　　Whip!

　　1,000 soldiers all raised their wine cups at the same time and together they yelled, “Unafraid of life or death, we shall lay our lives down for the Emperor!”

　　When their voices fell, everyone swallowed their wine in one shot.

　　The sky gradually darkened.

　　Monarch Jin led 1,000 soldiers out of the smelting house. He directed his intense and icy gaze toward the Pure Heart Palace. The next second, he climbed onto his horse and punched the air, yelling: “Death to Hua An! Eradicate the rebel!”

　　1,000 soldiers thundered after him.

　　“Kill him!”

　　On his horse, with 1,000 soldiers behind him, Monarch Jin majestically charged toward the Pure Heart Palace.