Chapter 28: The Grand Sorcerer Completely Powerless

When Lu Xin returned to his father’s office once more, it was already 3:20 a.m.
The interior was exactly as he’d left it—no changes whatsoever.

The puppet skeleton showed no alterations either.
It looked like he could finally get a good night’s sleep tonight.

He sniffed his clothes, catching an unpleasant odor.
He needed a hot shower.
Before entering the living quarters, Lu Xin double-checked that the skeleton’s body wasn’t moving, and the letter was still safely tucked inside.

Hope that’s the case, Lu Xin thought.

After entering the living quarters, Lu Xin headed straight to the bathroom on the first floor of the tri-level duplex.
He retrieved a change of clothes from his storage ring, then stood under the showerhead, rinsing away the day’s fatigue.

From Lu Xin’s own perspective, rivulets of water traced down from the contours of his prominent muscles.
This male body, though it appeared robust and powerful from the muscle definition, was riddled with hidden damage.

Influenced by Alice Phil’s female form, he’d depleted his core essence in that great battle seventeen years ago.
On the surface, Alice Phil seemed unaffected.
But the toll was undeniably etched into this male body.

His total mana reserves were now only a third of their peak.
Nearly half the mana circuits in his body were clogged.
As for physical strength, while this body lacked Alice Phil’s innate physical enhancement talent, it was only marginally stronger than an ordinary person’s.

He quickly squeezed some shampoo from the bathroom dispenser, lathered it into his hair, then let the showerhead haphazardly rinse away the suds.

He washed his body just as efficiently.
A man’s form didn’t require excessive care—it was tough and resilient.
Daily grooming was far simpler than for a woman.

After toweling off the water droplets, Lu Xin slipped into his pajamas—for a man, summer sleepwear often amounted to just a pair of boxer shorts.

He stepped out of the bathroom and paused before the door with Alice Phil’s nameplate.
He hesitated for a moment but ultimately pushed it open and entered.

In the end, this was still his room.
Even if it clashed horribly with his middle-aged, grizzled man’s aesthetic, he had no choice but to grit his teeth and lie down on that princess bed.

A man in a pink girly bedroom—what a bizarre pairing.
Yet for Lu Xin, it felt strangely fitting, if eerie.

He wondered: if he were in Alice Phil’s form right now, his tolerance for the room’s style would probably be several levels higher.

But precisely because of this body’s nature, he could embody Alice Phil anywhere else—but not here.

Lu Xin knew full well that if Alice Phil appeared in the office, some unpleasant things would happen.
Unpleasant not in terms of life-threatening danger, but matters of personal dignity.
Sometimes, a person’s dignity outweighed their life.

It wouldn’t just threaten his dignity—it would leave his body limp and drained.

This will have to do, Lu Xin decided, halting his train of thought.
He closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.
Though a grand sorcerer like him could go days without rest without any impact, years of raising a child had ingrained in him the habit of early to bed, early to rise.

Soon, the pink bedroom filled with the rhythmic snoring of a man—rising and falling in pitch, a clear sign Lu Xin was sleeping soundly.

A person is often most vulnerable in deep sleep—even a grand sorcerer like Lu Xin.

In the dead of night, hours had passed in the unchanging black sky outside the White Tower.
Seemingly still, but in the office that should hold no one but Lu Xin, faint rustling sounds began.

Thud!
A heavy object crashed to the floor in the office area.

In the pink bedroom, the man merely rolled over and scratched his itchy backside.

A short while later, metallic clinks against the floor echoed from the office area—slow and steady, like footsteps.

Click.
The sound of the living quarters door turning came.

Thump.
The door closed softly.

Thump, thump.
Footstep-like noises resumed in the tri-level duplex, ascending from the ground floor to the third.

The steps extended all the way to the third floor, halting before the door with Alice Phil’s nameplate.

Lu Xin, eyes closed, rolled over again and scratched at his chest.

Confirming the footsteps hadn’t woken the man in the room, the source of the sounds twisted the doorknob and opened the door.

In the dim room, light from the floor-to-ceiling screen in the tri-level cast into the girly bedroom, outlining in the gloom the silhouette of an inorganic skeleton.

This was unmistakably the alchemical puppet from the office rack earlier.
For some reason, intelligence had sparked within it, compelling it to approach Lu Xin.

The skeleton tilted its head slightly, its empty eye sockets pondering who-knows-what.

Lying on the bed, Lu Xin seemed to sense something—his body trembled faintly.
He groggily opened his eyes to see a humanoid figure seated at the bedside.

Just as Lu Xin was about to react, the puppet met his gaze.
And so, this eighth-tier grand sorcerer lost consciousness without the slightest resistance.

With its goal achieved, the puppet rose from the bed’s edge.
It opened the wardrobe, pulled out a heap of clothes, and piled them on the princess bed to commence its nefarious plan.

The room’s lights flicked on, but Lu Xin showed no sign of waking during this time.

…………

In the dead of night, far away in Tongzhou City, Lu Yue suddenly snapped her eyes open.

Perhaps it was the psychological shadow from a daytime flying mishap that caused freefall trauma—she’d just relived that plummeting sensation in her sleep, leaving her body weak all over.

The instant she hit the ground in the dream, she jolted awake, drenched in cold sweat.
Strands of silver-white hair clung to her sweaty forehead.

Lu Yue rolled over and grabbed her phone from the nightstand, checking the time: 3:30 a.m.

Done for, Lu Yue thought miserably.
Daylight brings a mountain of classes, and now I definitely won’t fall back asleep.

Rather than just sitting there, Lu Yue decided to occupy herself.

Like, that gift box she’d found in her mom’s closet the day before yesterday.
She’d said aloud to keep the anticipation alive, but inwardly, she was itching to open it.

Mom and Dad were off on their honeymoon outside, probably playing for a few more days before returning.
But she couldn’t wait any longer.

With a guilty, thief-like tiptoe, Lu Yue slipped into the master bedroom.
She opened the drawer on Alice Phil’s side of the cabinet, revealing the gift box tied with a purple satin ribbon.

The box’s lid read: To my dearest granddaughter, signed Rhine.

Ah, a gift from Grandma, Lu Yue thought, a surge of delight in her heart.

Though Grandma had never shown her face, she often sent pretty clothes through Grandpa and Dad.

According to Dad, Grandma was a renowned tailor in the sewing world.
But due to some unavoidable reasons, she’d never been able to meet Lu Yue.

Though regret lingered in her heart, Lu Yue could accept it—at least it wasn’t total silence.

So, Lu Yue began unwrapping the purple-ribboned gift box.
It was much like Alice Phil’s: the top and bottom layers held jewelry and crystal high heels, while the middle contained a silver gown.
The style was similar to Alice Phil’s, but the bust was noticeably narrower and far more modest.

After admiring the gown, Lu Yue folded it away and returned it to the closet.
She had no intention of trying it on now—sweaty as she was, there was no need to soil it.

After mulling it over, Lu Yue decided to take a bath.
Then back to bed—maybe she could salvage a bit of sleep.