I Start with a Mysterious Island

She patted the back of the purple-haired youth, who was busy vomiting, and muttered to herself.

"I told you to drink less, but you just had to show off. Happy now? You drank so much you’re throwing up... Wait here a sec, I’ll go buy you a bottle of water."

The blonde girl said to her boyfriend on the ground, then hurried off toward a shop in the distance that sold water.

Just as she ran off to buy her boyfriend water, an invisible figure appeared before the purple-haired youth. The young man had just finished vomiting and was now sitting on the ground, barely conscious, with his head bowed and eyes tightly shut.

"Heh heh... I’ll be taking your wallet." A malicious chuckle sounded first. Then, something rustled in the purple-haired youth’s pocket, and a moment later, his wallet flew out as if on its own.

No, the wallet hadn’t flown out on its own. The invisible figure had taken it.

He had pulled the wallet right out of the disoriented young man’s pocket.

’Got it. This wallet’s pretty fat!’ the invisible figure muttered. Just as he was about to stuff the stolen wallet into his own pocket, a figure appeared behind him and spoke.

"Hey, stealing isn’t right. You should give that back."

The invisible figure froze, hearing the sudden voice behind him.

He turned to look and saw a young man in a white T-shirt and blue jeans staring right at him.

’This guy can see me? No way! I already used my Invisibility Superpower... Oh, it must be the wallet in my hand that gave me away.’

The invisible figure glanced at the wallet in his hand. Thinking it was what had exposed him, he quickly shoved it into his pocket.

From Lin Li’s perspective, the wallet floating in mid-air simply dipped down and vanished.

Even though the wallet had disappeared, Lin Li could still tell from his Perception that the person using the Invisibility Superpower was right in front of him.

"Kid, mind your own business, or don’t blame me for what happens next." The thief, hidden by his Superpower, spat the threat at Lin Li before turning to flee.

THUD.

The thief had just turned to run for the intersection when he suddenly felt an immense force slam into his back.

The blonde girl, having bought the water, was now walking back to her boyfriend.

Suddenly, she saw a young man talking to thin air. ’He might be crazy,’ she thought. ’I’d better not mess with him.’

Just as the blonde girl was about to walk around Lin Li to get to her drunk boyfriend, she saw the "crazy" young man suddenly take a few steps forward, leap into the air, and throw a kick at nothing.

"Ah!" The blonde girl shrieked at the sight. The instant after Lin Li’s kick connected with the empty air, a skinny figure materialized out of nowhere and crashed heavily to the ground.

The thief, sent flying by Lin Li’s kick, felt as if his body was about to fall apart. The intense pain forced him to cry out, deactivating his Invisibility Superpower in the process.

Lin Li, having forced the thief to become visible, walked over, squatted down, and pulled a wallet from the man’s pocket.

"Catch." Lin Li tossed the wallet to the dazed blonde girl.

She fumbled to catch the wallet Lin Li had tossed her. Before she could ask, Lin Li said, "This guy stole your boyfriend’s wallet... You should call the police!"

"Oh..." Stunned by the sudden turn of events, the blonde girl obediently did as Lin Li said, pulling her phone from her pocket and dialing the Superpower Administration Bureau.

Since Tianli Square was a high-traffic area, there were always Investigators on patrol nearby.

When the Superpower Administration Bureau’s dispatch received the blonde girl’s call, they immediately sent the nearest patrolling Investigators to the scene.

They arrested the thief, who was still lying on the ground wailing, unable to get up after Lin Li’s kick.

...

"Huh? Where’s Lin Li? Where did he go?"

Su Yue arrived at the bench carrying two iced milk teas, only to find Lin Li gone. Just as she was about to call and ask where he’d run off to, someone called out to her from behind.

"Su Yue."

Hearing the familiar voice, Su Yue turned to see Lin Li walking toward her, a small plastic bag in his hand.

"Lin Li, where did you go?"

"I saw a place selling fried chicken cutlets over there. I felt like just having milk tea was missing something, so I went and bought one."

Su Yue nodded, and she and Lin Li sat down on the bench. They drank their milk tea and ate small, pre-cut pieces of the fried chicken with bamboo skewers.

"Let’s head back after we finish our drinks," Lin Li said.

"What’s the rush? It’s still early! Let’s wander around a little longer!" Su Yue replied.

"I have something to do tomorrow, and I need to get up early."

"What is it?"

"Um..." Lin Li thought for a moment. "What else? The usual business of making money."

Hearing him mention making money, Su Yue assumed he meant getting up early to take jobs with his van, so she didn’t press him further.

The two chatted about the movie they hadn’t finished earlier, and after finishing their milk tea and chicken, they left Tianli Square.

...

「The next morning, just after eight o’clock.」

「Spirit Realm, Dongwu City, Chu Kingdom.」

A man in a black martial arts uniform, wearing a wide-brimmed bamboo hat that obscured his face, walked into a restaurant that specialized in charcoal-grilled oysters.

"Welcome," a waitress wiping down a table called out to the customer who had entered so early in the morning.

Before the waitress could ask what the customer wanted, Wang Gui, who was coming down from the second floor, spotted the man at the door. He immediately broke into a smile. "Mr. Lin, good morning!"

"Boss Wang, good morning. I’ve come to order more pearls," said Lin Li. He was in a hurry to get to Guangqi Road and ambush Zhou Tianci, so he skipped the pleasantries and got straight to the point.

"Ah?" Wang Gui was taken aback. He had just sold this man twenty thousand pearls yesterday. How could he be back for more after only one night?

He had thought that after buying so many pearls, Lin Li wouldn’t be back for a while. ’Or maybe,’ he’d considered, ’a deal like this was a one-time thing.’

He never expected both of his assumptions to be wrong. Less than twenty-four hours after buying the first batch of pearls, Lin Li was back at his door for a second deal.

"Mr. Lin, how many pearls would you like to buy this time?" As a merchant, the chance to trade useless junk for money was something Wang Gui couldn’t pass up, so he asked eagerly.

"The more, the better. I’ll take as many as you’ve got. Boss Wang, how many can you provide right now?" Lin Li asked with a smile.

"..." Wang Gui was speechless for a few seconds. He then tentatively threw out a number. "One hundred thousand."

"Alright, I’ll take one hundred thousand then." Lin Li nodded and pulled a thick wad of cash from his pocket.

’No way! This Mr. Lin really wants to buy one hundred thousand pearls!’

Wang Gui couldn’t believe it. He had named a high number as a test, figuring the man probably couldn’t afford that many and would, at most, ask for half. He never expected Lin Li to agree to the full amount without hesitation.

One hundred thousand pearls at One Copper Coin each came to a total of one hundred thousand Copper Coins. Converted to Silver Coins, that was one hundred silver.

Lin Li counted out ten 10-Silver bills from the wad of cash and handed them to the dumbfounded Wang Gui.

...