Chapter 4: First Time! A Hasty Couple Performance

Run! Run!

Liuxia desperately pumped her legs, sprinting forward.

She had originally planned to go back to the place where she bit her junior to check on the situation, but after being questioned by the investigator, returning to the “crime scene” would be suicidal.

As a former man suddenly playing the role of a girl, she wasn’t sure if she had covered all her flaws. Liuxia didn’t dare bet everything on her acting skills.

She could only hope that Investigator Liao would take longer to realize something was off. Only now, as she fled, did the girl deeply realize how full of holes her words and actions had been.

Even thinking back on it now, cold sweat broke out on Liuxia’s forehead. Heaven knows how she had managed to fool him earlier.

For the current Liuxia, the most urgent thing was to find a place to hide quickly, not wander around on the streets.

After all, if she exposed her whereabouts in open space, with her body now that of an ordinary girl, there was no way she could outrun a professional investigator.

Therefore, Liuxia decided to take shelter at the residence her junior Li Chunsheng had once told her about.

Coincidentally, Li Chunsheng’s home was quite close to where Liuxia had fainted and transformed, so without much thought, she decided to hide there.

Time passed gradually, and the apartment where Li Chunsheng lived grew closer. Seeing her junior’s door and windows from afar, the girl’s heart relaxed a little.

Suddenly, Liuxia’s ears twitched, and she slowed her steps.

“Oh no, oh no—he’s really caught up!” Liuxia’s little heart pounded wildly. Her senses, sharpened countless times after becoming a girl, clearly detected that far behind her, the investigator she had met earlier had found her trail and was leisurely following.

Clearly, the investigator already suspected her but wasn’t certain, so he chose to tail her and wait for an opportunity.

But he probably never imagined that this seemingly ordinary girl had senses so keen it was as if she had eyes in the back of her head.

Having noticed the investigator, Liuxia had no choice but to start acting again.

The girl switched from running to a light, casual strolling pace, adopting the relaxed posture of someone almost home.

Soon, Liuxia entered the apartment building and walked step by step toward Li Chunsheng’s residence…

From a distance, Investigator Liao watched Liuxia enter the building, his expression turning puzzled. Rubbing his chin, he thought: “That miss… has outstanding looks. Why would she live in a cheap apartment like this?”

“She’s becoming more and more suspicious…”

On Liuxia’s side, as she approached Li Chunsheng’s home, the girl didn’t feel relieved at all. Instead, her heart grew heavier.

“Chunsheng… I hurt him so badly before, and he lost so much blood. He’s probably in grave danger now…”

“It’s all my fault for being useless… I couldn’t produce gold coins, turned into a goblin, and even harmed Chunsheng.”

“Even hiding at his place—what good will it do? I’m already suspected and being watched. In this situation, hiding would just be trapping myself, right?”

The more depressed Liuxia became, the more she moved on instinct alone. She reached Li Chunsheng’s door, retrieved the key from the flowerpot by the hallway as she remembered, and skillfully unlocked it…

The next moment, a wary-faced young man appeared before her, turning her dejected expression into one of vivid shock.

“Chunsheng—!” Liuxia cried as she threw herself at him.

“Ehhh?! What’s with this girl?!” Li Chunsheng suddenly panicked, flailing his hands.

As for Li Chunsheng, he hadn’t been home long either. The moment he got back, he hurriedly started searching online for recent information about goblins.

Sure enough, after some searching, Li Chunsheng found the name of his familiar senior, Liu Xia.

“Former citizen Liu Xia is about to degenerate into a goblin and has fled in fear of punishment. Citizens are advised to be cautious when going out. If you see a suspicious figure, do not approach and call the hotline…”

“Liu certain failed to uphold male virtue, didn’t produce gold coins, and defaulted on debts. Is this the distortion of human nature, or…”

“I know this Liu Xia person. Never thought someone who seemed so honest would do this…”

“You can know a person’s face but not their heart. What do you know?”

Looking at the various news articles, reports, and discussions online about his senior Liu Xia, Li Chunsheng felt complicated emotions.

“No wonder Senior has been contacting me less lately. He must have been facing financial difficulties…”

“But why didn’t he come to me… Sigh, that makes sense. To outsiders, I’m just an ordinary person… My blessed income is limited too…”

“Senior probably didn’t want to drag me down…”

Li Chunsheng’s view of goblins differed from the mainstream in this world. He felt some sympathy for the goblin group.

As a transmigrator, he knew many people faced poor economic conditions and had no choice.

But in this world, the mainstream linked dropping 【Gold Content】 to negative values and degenerating into a goblin with moral failure—similar to how, in Li Chunsheng’s previous world, people often viewed those with certain diseases as morally deficient.

The ruling institutions of this world—the Holy Tower Church and its subordinate temples—understood the danger of “complete goblins” and tacitly allowed this view to spread. The less sympathy for goblins, the easier it was to identify and capture potential degenerates.

With cooperation from all sides, goblins had a reputation in human society worse than rats crossing the street—utterly reviled.

Many on the verge of becoming goblins, under this moral pressure, chose to turn themselves in and accept temple punishment.

Only a few resisted, but facing the powerful temples, few ever reached full goblin degeneration.

Just as Li Chunsheng sighed over this, the sound of his front door being unlocked suddenly came!

He had only told Senior Liu Xia where the key was hidden! But Liu Xia had already degenerated into a goblin and lost rationality, so it could only be a thief!

In this world, because gold coins were tied to life, theft provoked even greater anger than in Li Chunsheng’s original world.

Furious, Li Chunsheng clenched his fists and headed to the door, ready to strike first—as someone with 【Infinite Gold Coins】, though counterfeit coins couldn’t be spent, using them to strengthen his body was more than enough. Ordinary people couldn’t afford such luxury.

As long as it wasn’t a goblin or someone from the temples, Li Chunsheng was confident he could fight.

Then, the next moment, he saw a white-haired, red-eyed beautiful girl crying as she threw herself at him. His clenched fists instantly relaxed.

“Wait, who are you, miss?” Having produced too few gold coins and never been close to girls outside labor rituals, Li Chunsheng panicked.

“Ah, ah…!” Liuxia realized her impropriety and quickly climbed out of his embrace.

“Th-that! Chunsheng! It’s me, Liu Xia!” The girl looked at Li Chunsheng in panic as she explained.

“Liu Xia?” Li Chunsheng showed complete disbelief. Come on—they had grown up together like childhood friends. That plain-looking Liu Xia could never be this noble-looking beautiful girl before him!

“It’s true!” Seeing her junior’s disbelief and knowing the investigator was coming up the building, Liuxia hurriedly explained: “Anyway! When I was escaping as a goblin, I don’t know why, but I turned into a girl!”

“Thanks to that, I managed to escape! Please, Chunsheng! It’s really me, Liu Xia. Shelter me! Look, there’s a mole on my chest—we’ve bathed together many times, you’ve seen it!”

Liuxia was extremely anxious, speaking faster and faster. To convince him, she even opened her top, revealing dazzlingly white skin beneath.

On the towering snow peaks, only a few strips of cloth covered them, and at the edge of one peak was indeed a familiar little black dot.

Now Li Chunsheng truly believed her, but the stunning sight made it hard to look away. To avoid offending his senior, he quickly averted his eyes and said: “Okay, okay! I believe you! Put your clothes back on first!”

However, Li Chunsheng didn’t get the reaction he expected. Instead, Liuxia’s face suddenly changed, and she spoke to him in a coquettish tone.

“Chunsheng~ 【Liuxia】 is back from outside~ Are you happy?” Without fixing her top properly, she gently pressed herself into Li Chunsheng’s arms again.

“???” What’s going on? Li Chunsheng was stunned.

“Please, Chunsheng, play along… Just act like a couple…” Liuxia whispered her request from his embrace.

No way, Senior! What’s 【Liuxia】? How am I supposed to act like a couple? I’ve been single for twenty years here, plus my previous life—decades without romance experience. How could I…

But seeing how urgently his senior pleaded, Li Chunsheng could only force himself to cooperate.

Since he had no experience, he followed his instincts.

So, with his mind blank, Li Chunsheng hugged Liuxia back, his hands slipping under her arms and heading straight for the snow peaks!

“Kyaa—?” Liuxia let out a suppressed yelp.