Gacha games can't save this bizarre world.

"Brother Zhao, have some tea~" he said with a grin.

As the saying goes, one cannot hit a smiling face. Zhao Hao glanced at her, took the tea, and decided to make a mental note of this debt!

Xiaoyu didn't sit down. Instead, she stretched over the chair, leaned on the armrest, and moved closer to Zhao Hao. "Brother Zhao, what have you been up to lately? I'm so bored. Can you show me around?"

You know what, kids grow up so fast. That fried chicken and cola are like pig feed for Xiaoyu, look how fast she's growing.

"No, no, don't bring that burden!"

"Please take me with you, please take me with you! I'll be very obedient! I know a lot of magic now, I can help you," Xiaoyu pleaded.

"Still want to take you along? I'm so bored I'm practically growing moss. Go ask your Uncle Long to take you along, he's busy, he has a lot to do." Zhao Hao hasn't been assigned any tasks for the past few months, and he doesn't know what Amei's intentions are.

By the way, it's been a long time since we've seen the saviors. Prada, on the other hand, seems to see them quite often, though, because of his loyalty to the cause.

Xiaoyu put her hands on her hips: "Uncle Long? How long has it been since Uncle Long came back? He's like a dragon, appearing and disappearing without a trace!"

Zhao Hao was somewhat aware of this; it seemed that Ma Long was working in another department under the Safety Council…

At this point, Uncle Tie finished his work.

"I called you here today because I have something to discuss. Have you heard of Emperor's Dew?"

Chapter 465 The Year of Jiazi: Emperor Liujiang and an Old Acquaintance

In his "Continuation of the New Qi Xie: Emperor's Dew", Yuan Mei, the Old Man of Suiyuan, recorded: "On the night of Gengshen, the moon shone brightly, and Emperor's Dew flowed within it. Its shape was like countless olives, with ten thousand golden threads strung together and hanging down to the human world. Plants and trees that received its essence could become demons."

The *Xu Zi Bu Yu* records in detail: For any plant or tree to become a demon, it must be nourished by the essence of the moon, specifically the moonlight of the Gengshen night. This is because the moonlight of the Gengshen night contains the Emperor's nectar, which resembles countless olives, strung together with thousands of golden threads. Plants and trees that absorb this essence can become demons, and foxes and ghosts that consume it can display supernatural powers. Plants and trees have nature but no life, while the nectar has nature and can replenish life; foxes and ghosts inherently possess life, therefore consuming it is highly beneficial.

The Emperor's Dew can only flow on the moonlit night of a Gengshen day. There are two conditions for this: one is the Gengshen night, and the other is the moonlit night.

In another book, Suiyuan Shihua, Yuan Mei said, "I have heard of the 'moonlight' since I was a child, but I have never seen it."

We can probably infer that "moonlight" does not refer to moonlight but to a special kind of moonlight. So what is "moonlight"?

We can look at the opinions of people from a period closer to Yuan Mei's. Feng Yingjing, in his "Expanded Meaning of the Monthly Ordinances - August Ordinances," said: "The moon's radiance usually appears on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, or the fourteenth or sixteenth, or sometimes the thirteenth, seventeenth, or eighteenth. The moon's radiance is like brocade clouds holding a pearl, bright and colorful, scattered around the moon, no different from embroidery. When the radiance is at its peak, the moon is like a withered red golden basin, and its brilliance is not bright, and it only dissipates after a while. It is a common sight and not an auspicious omen. Novels mistakenly regard the moon's halo as a radiance, because they have never seen it."

In his "Lüyuan Conghua: Auspicious and Strange Events: The Unpredictable Heaven", Qian Yong wrote: "On the nights of the 13th, 14th and 15th of the first month of the 19th year of the Jiaqing reign, there was a moonlit glow that everyone could see."

Lunar halos are rare; they require specific lunar phases and specific weather conditions. Bad weather will prevent them from occurring.

And coincidentally, on the night of Gengshen, all things were cloudless, the moon was in perfect phase, and the moonlight poured down, so that there would be thousands of golden threads of imperial liquid mixed in.

This stuff is considered the essence of moonlight, with excellent effects. Living things benefit greatly from it, and even inanimate objects become sentient after touching it.

However, Yuan Mei was just an ordinary person. In the era he lived in, spiritual energy had been dormant for a long time. Not to mention the Emperor's Dew, even the Moon's Essence was rarely seen.

The information he recorded was passed down orally from some low-level superhumans, so it's normal for there to be omissions.

According to Uncle Tie, the Emperor's Dew only occurs once every 60 years, a cycle of sixty years.

On the night of Gengshen in the Jiazi year, it occurs once every 60 days, and six times a year.

For several hundred years, due to the dormancy of spiritual energy, even in the Jiazi year, the amount of Emperor's Dew that fell was pitifully small. Trying to catch Emperor's Dew was like winning the lottery.

In the end, it simply disappeared completely, even on the night of Gengshen in the Jiazi year!

"Speaking of which, it's been three cycles of sixty years since the Emperor's Dew appeared." Uncle Tie picked up his teacup and took a sip.

Zhao Hao thought for a moment, "Uncle Tie, isn't this year the Jiazi year?" This year is indeed the Jiazi year.

Uncle Tie nodded. "Yes, as the saying goes, surviving the Year of the Rat is better than being a living god. The Year of the Rat is tough."

In the traditional calendar, the first year in the sexagenary cycle is the Jiazi year, which represents the beginning of a new cycle.

Every year of the Jiazi cycle, many significant events tend to occur. Over time, people have come to believe that the Jiazi year is a year of disaster.

This statement is correct. Every 60 years is a cycle of change, and the energy sea will experience very intense fluctuations at this time. These fluctuations are reflected in the inner and outer worlds as a sign of many disasters.

The most famous example is "When the year is Jiazi, great fortune will come to the world." That year almost turned the world upside down, causing severe damage to the fortune of China and leading to calamities that lasted for hundreds of years.

And this year is the Year of the Rat, and the Emperor's Dew has been held back three times before, but this year it has finally come!

Zhao Hao began to understand what Uncle Tie meant. The year of Jiazi was inherently a year of many disasters, and it required careful handling.

Then, with the resurgence of psionic energy, the Imperial Dew may fall again.

When this thing falls, everything it touches becomes sentient; it'll cause quite a stir.

Zhao Hao asked, "Do you want to help the Mysterious Bureau?"

Uncle Tie glared at him. "Why would I help them?"

"Then you must have the people on your mind!"

"Those with white skin and green eyes aren't of Chinese descent, so let whoever wants to have them have them."

"So what do you mean?"

"Hi..." Uncle Tie opened his mouth several times before finally explaining the reason.

It turns out that an "old acquaintance" of Uncle Tie came to Ame.

However, this old acquaintance put Uncle Tie in a difficult position.

This man's name was Lao Yan, and he called himself Shou Chongzi. He had known Tie Shu since his youth, when the two of them were both searching for the Dao, or rather, seeking the Dao.

However, by then, the psychic energy had already been severely suppressed, and even the direct descendants of those prestigious sects found it difficult to embark on the path of transcendence. How could a wild boy so easily enter the Dao?

If you can't find the right path, you're bound to stray onto some unorthodox or unorthodox ways.

At that time, neither of them understood much, nor did they care about such things. They tried everything they could get their hands on. They wanted to learn all sorts of unorthodox spells and magic, and they don't know how many detours they took.

Later, their fates diverged. Tie Shu, by chance, embarked on the righteous path. But Shou Chongzi encountered an evil master, and instead of embarking on the righteous path, he suffered greatly and fell into evil ways.

Later, internal turmoil began to occur within the Song Dynasty. For various reasons, Uncle Tie took Ma Long and left the Celestial Empire, settling in America where they stayed for over twenty years.

Those childhood companions, who had gone their separate ways, hadn't been thought of for a long time.

However, Uncle Tie recently received news from Hongmen that Shouchongzi seems to have committed a great sin in Huangsong and has also sought refuge in Amei.

Shou Chongzi is now a bronze-level evil alchemist...

After returning from obtaining information from the Red Gate, Zhao Hao pondered things the whole way back.

This evil cultivator who sailed across the sea is no ordinary person; he can be described as ruthless.

It is said that Shou Chongzi killed 81 people in one fell swoop in the Celestial Empire, ranging from children with spiritual potential to extraordinary individuals, from extraordinary races to ordinary people with noble destinies. And this wasn't just ordinary killing; he even refined their bodies and souls into elixirs!

He also advanced to Bronze rank thanks to this wave of advancement.

Murder is already a serious crime, let alone using a human to make elixirs! Especially using a human soul as a consumable, this is a grave taboo.

He knew he could no longer stay in the Celestial Empire, so he fled to the southeast early on.

He spent a few more years in those small, monkey-like countries, until someone from the Celestial Empire came looking for him. He fled several more times, but realized it wouldn't work; he would always be hunted down in the East, so he decided to come to the West. He didn't even go to Europe; he sailed straight across the sea to America.

Everyone says this place is a breeding ground for evil, so I had to come and see for myself.

The Red Gate's influence extends across the east and west coasts, yet they only obtained a few clues, knowing that Shou Chongzi had come to Amei, but he has remained silent during this time.

However, according to Uncle Tie, the Emperor's Dew is extremely important to Shou Chongzi, and he will definitely take action.

If he makes a move, the casualties will be devastating; he must be stopped.

But Uncle Tie didn't want to get involved with the past, nor did he want to harm his former comrades. So he asked Zhao Hao to deal with the guy.

When a master has something to do, the disciple should do it. Zhao Hao, this half-disciple, must be proactive!

……

In the afternoon, Gou Quan called Zhao Hao, and the two met up at their usual restaurant.

"How have you been lately?" Gou Quan asked with a grin, his teeth very white.

"It's alright," Zhao Hao said while flipping through the recipe.

"I can see that. Can you really stay at home for months on end? Even if Elena and Qiye are both good girls, you can't just ignore us brothers, can you?" Gou Quan said with a resentful expression.

"Get lost! Judging by your outfit, you're probably having a blast right now!"

Gou Quan was dressed in an elegant suit, wearing expensive basketball shoes, with a thick gold chain around his neck weighing about half a pound, and four or five gemstone-encrusted rings on his hands.

That is to say, he is now a superhuman; otherwise, he would have been robbed hundreds of times over.

"What? Has Prada not been home lately? Has your taste deteriorated to this extent?" Zhao Hao asked.

Gou Quan scratched the back of his head: "Prada has been very busy lately, he was incredibly busy before the New Year. It's said that he was sent to Mo Du Ge's place to deal with the local voodoo forces conflict. Apparently, something went wrong and he won't be back for a while."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Hao thought to himself, "Am I the only one with nothing to do right now?"

All the other candidates were given important responsibilities, so what's the point of leaving me out here?

Zhao Hao immediately decided, "I'm going to aggressively develop the game player base and cause trouble, big trouble!"

If you won't include me, I'll play you!

As they ate and chatted, Gou Quan complained that Zhao Hao had barely paid any attention to the Pipi Shrimp Company for almost half a year last year.

谷簖

We absolutely have to plan for the company this year, because the rate at which our assets have doubled has slowed down!

Planning... to be honest, Zhao Hao couldn't think of any good development ideas for the time being.

Pipi Shrimp Future Technology Co., Ltd. has already achieved success in multiple fields, including pharmaceuticals and health products, cultural entertainment, sportswear, and investment and finance.

Besides, I'm already a Bronze 4-star pro, I don't have time to manage a company.

I'll rob someone if I need money... cough, that's not harmonious. I still need legal income.

Suddenly, Zhao Hao remembered something. "Quan'er, have you read a novel called 'Neuromancer'?"

What kind of oil?

"It's not oil, it's a science fiction novel."

"Oh, a novel? I've definitely never read one. I get a headache just looking at anything with words on it; after a while, the words start to move around like they're coming to life. Maybe I could read a movie or TV series."

"This is a book about... well, never mind. Anyway, it's a really good novel. You contact someone and get the adaptation rights. Let's make more movies this year!"

"Making movies?" Gou Quan asked in confusion, since he didn't concern himself with cultural matters because he lacked education.

Zhao Hao said, "Of course. Have you heard? Our Commander Li Gen'er recently promulgated a new tax law..."

When Li Genda was an actor in Hollywood, he paid almost 90% in taxes.

Now that he's successful, he's lowered the top tax rate for actors to 28%.