Cheng Mo appeared out of thin air in his rented apartment.
The solid feel of his feet landing on the ground was starkly different from the soft, muddy mountain forest he had been in a moment before crossing over; it was cold, hard concrete.
The stuffy, familiar air of the rented room filled his nostrils, a sharp contrast to the fresh, crisp scent of the mountain forest after the rain in the Demon Slayer World.
He shook his head, forcing down the momentary daze and sense of temporal displacement.
Inside him, the power tempered by Thunder Breathing had not vanished; the surging blood and the feeling of physical prowess far beyond his past self were undeniably real.
But he immediately reined in all his aura, his eyes instantly returning to their usual calm, even slightly weary state.
He immediately pulled out his phone from his spatial storage, unlocked it with his fingerprint, and deftly canceled the automatic sending task for the 'suicide note' he had set in his email client.
Watching the 'Canceled' notification, the last taut string in his heart finally relaxed slightly.
Immediately after, his phone began vibrating frantically, a series of missed call notifications and text messages crowding the screen, buzzing and breaking the room's dead silence.
Cheng Mo took a deep breath, as if to thoroughly integrate the air of the real world into his lungs, suppressing the surging sense of power within him that didn't belong here.
He quickly entered the 'dealing with real-world matters' state, his gaze sweeping over the names and numbers.
The number of missed calls was alarming.
Parents: The most, dozens of missed calls, from yesterday evening until this morning.
The red notification for voice messages in the WeChat chat box was glaring.
He tapped it open, and his mother's voice went from initial worry: "Xiao Mo, why aren't you answering the phone? Have you eaten?"
To anxiety: "Xiao Mo, call me back, you're scaring me to death!"
The last few messages carried an uncontrollable sob and panic: "Xiao Mo... where on earth did you go? Don't scare Mom..."
Cheng Mo's heart felt as if it was being squeezed by an invisible hand, but his face remained expressionless, only his lips pressed tighter.
His younger sister, Cheng Xingtong: A few messages.
"Brother, Mom didn't sleep well all night."
"Brother, are you okay? Reply if you see this message."
"Brother, Mom and Dad are very worried about you."
The words conveyed weakness and suppressed worry.
His friend, Liu Yu: Over a dozen missed calls, from the initial "Hey, where are you? Want to grab a drink?" to "Damn, where are you? Playing hide-and-seek?", the last few becoming unusually serious.
"Call me back immediately, urgent matter."
"Auntie called me, what's going on with you?"
"Reply if you see this! Don't make me search the whole world for you!"
His mentor, He Jingwen: One missed call and one text message.
"Cheng Mo, the lab data can proceed to the next stage, call me back when you see this."
"If there are family matters, I can grant a few more days, but the progress needs to be expedited." — This was sent half an hour ago.
His senior, Su Jing: One missed call and one message.
"Cheng Mo, where have you been recently, your phone is unreachable. I have an urgent translation here, the pay is good, do you want to take it?"
He first called home.
It was answered almost instantly, and his mother's hoarse voice, thick with nasal congestion, almost a cry, came through the receiver: "Xiao Mo?! Is that Xiao Mo?! Where on earth have you been?! You're going to scare your dad and me to death!"
In the background, he could hear his father's anxious inquiry: "Is it our son? The phone's connected?"
Cheng Mo held the phone a little further from his ear, his tone deliberately adjusted to be relaxed, even with a hint of tired excitement: "Mom, it's nothing, don't worry. I just got out, the signal was completely blocked."
He spoke faster, cutting off his mother's impending barrage of questions: "The intensive training for that closed-door project my friend introduced, it's done. The results are really good, truly, I earned quite a bit! Xing Tong's medical expenses for a while are covered!"
He deliberately repeated and emphasized the phrases "earned quite a bit" and "medical expenses are covered."
The other end of the phone suddenly fell silent, only his mother's heavy breathing, as if she hadn't reacted, remained.
After a few seconds, his mother's voice came through again, full of disbelief and a hint of cautious hope: "...Really? How much?... No, are you okay? What kind of training requires you to be shut away with no phone access?"
"Really, Mom, I'm fine, perfectly fine. I'll tell you the exact amount later, but it's good news. The training organizers required confidentiality, I signed an agreement, so I couldn't say anything before. As soon as it ended, I immediately called you all."
Cheng Mo smoothly wove his lies, trying to sound as sincere as possible.
"Tell Dad not to worry either, I'll transfer the money once I finish the procedures here."
After several more minutes of reassurance, repeatedly guaranteeing that he was fine and had indeed earned money, his parents, half-believing, half-doubting, yet filled with immense surprise and lingering fear, finally hung up.
Cheng Mo immediately sent a message to his sister: "Xing Tong, Brother is fine. I was in a closed training recently, just finished. I earned money, your illness will definitely be cured. Rest well, listen to the doctor, I'll come see you later."
Next, he called his mentor, He Jingwen.
The phone rang twice and was answered.
"Teacher He, hello. This is Cheng Mo." Cheng Mo's voice carried the right amount of respect and a hint of 'apology,' "I'm very sorry, yesterday something urgent came up at home that required me to deal with it immediately. I went to a remote rural area with extremely poor signal, and just got back after resolving it and saw your message."
He paused, then continued: "I'll start pushing forward with the lab data immediately, and I absolutely won't delay the project progress."
He Jingwen on the other end seemed busy, and after hearing his explanation, his tone was still relatively calm: "Mm, it's good that it's resolved. Expedite the project progress, and communicate promptly if there are any issues."
"Okay, thank you, Teacher He." Cheng Mo replied.
After hanging up, he sent a message to Su Jing: "Senior, I apologize, I've been busy with family matters for a while, so I can't take on freelance work for now, thank you for thinking of me."
Finally, he called Liu Yu.
It was answered almost instantly, and a suppressed roar came from the other end: "Damn it, Cheng Mo, you finally came back to life?! Do you know I almost called the police?! Auntie called me, where the hell did you go?!"
Cheng Mo waited for his outburst to finish before calmly speaking: "Yu Zi, it's nothing, just dealing with some personal matters. The place was remote, no signal."
"Personal matters? What kind of personal matters make you disappear for dozens of hours?" Liu Yu's tone was full of suspicion and lingering anger.
Cheng Mo cut straight to the chase, lowering his voice slightly: "Actually, I need your help with something serious. I... got a batch of gold."
The other end of the phone instantly fell silent.
After several seconds, Liu Yu's voice came through, filled with disbelief and a hint of wariness: "...Gold? You... got a batch? Cheng Mo, don't scare me, what did you do?!"
"The source is absolutely clean." Cheng Mo emphasized again, his tone leaving no room for doubt, "It's my payment for this... 'job.' It's a significant amount. Do you have any reliable channels to sell it? It needs to be quick, and without causing trouble."
Liu Yu fell silent again on the other end, this time for longer.
Cheng Mo could imagine him now, frowning deeply, with a look of shock mixed with suspicion.
"...Gold? A significant amount? Clean source?"
Liu Yu repeated, biting hard on each word.
"I can't explain it clearly over the phone. Come to my place this afternoon, we'll talk in person!"
"Okay." Cheng Mo readily agreed, "I'll be there in an hour."
After hanging up, Cheng Mo stood still, feeling the power still surging within him, then quickly began to tidy himself up.
The person in the mirror, his eyes seemed sharper and deeper than three days ago, with an imperceptible explosive force contained beneath his skin.
He changed into clean, ordinary clothes, carefully reining in the sharpness that didn't belong in this world, transforming back into the ordinary, slightly weary university student hustling for a living.