What mattered was that his plan to provoke the Empress Dowager’s wrath and intentionally anger her to the point of being dismissed from his position, the very plan that should have resulted in his immediate ascension to immortality, had inexplicably failed.

The dismissal decree, which should have been issued yesterday and was crucial for his celestial transformation, was now gone.

After all, he had only offended the Empress Dowager. With her gone, the sacred decree that was of immense importance to him would undoubtedly remain unfulfilled.

What was even more infuriating was, just as Luo Xiaoyu had said, unless the Empress Dowager was heartless, his performance in the Taiji Hall would have surely been imprinted in her mind.

If she truly assumed power and ruled, for someone like him who only wanted to be dismissed from his position reasonably, it would be far from a favorable development.

Originally, he would have easily been dismissed from his position, fulfilled the system’s conditions, and directly ascended to immortality. But after this fiasco, the difficulty had visibly increased.

Thinking about this, Lu Chen’s frustration surged uncontrollably.

“Damn it, this bloody Cangming Holy King! Why did he have to show up at this time? Couldn’t he have come a bit later? Just one day later!!”

He would have had at least a tiny bit of positive feeling towards this sudden backstabber if this weren’t the case.

Seeing the duck almost within his grasp suddenly slip away, he was on the brink of exploding from anger.

“You treacherous bastard, I’m irreconcilable with you!”

At this moment, Luo Xiaoyu finally noticed the peculiar expression on Lu Chen’s face and curiously asked, “Cousin, what’s wrong with you? Why do you look so downcast? You seem really unhappy…”

“Are you blind, Xiaoyu?!”

Lu Chen turned his head to look out the window, simultaneously clenching his fist with his knuckles showing prominent blue veins.

“Huh? Really?”

Luo Xiaoyu looked at Lu Chen in confusion, feeling that his straightforward and headstrong cousin was acting a bit strange.

“Of course.”

Lu Chen didn’t look back, facing away from Luo Xiaoyu as he slowly said, “I’m practically overjoyed right now.”

Crack!

As he spoke, there was a crisp sound of his knuckles under the blanket.

“Uh? Is that so?”

Luo Xiaoyu looked at Lu Chen with perplexity. Though she found his honest personality somewhat vexing, she felt that something was off about him.

“Absolutely.”

Lu Chen didn’t turn around. He faced the window, saying calmly, “I’m so happy that I could die right now.”

Luo Xiaoyu: “…”

Although somewhat puzzled, Luo Xiaoyu was understanding. Seeing that Lu Chen kept gazing at the rain outside and seemed to want some quiet time alone, she didn’t press further. She hummed a song and left while carrying a basin.

Once Luo Xiaoyu had left, Lu Chen gradually calmed his emotions and regained his composure. His initial surge of anger subsided.

Given the current situation, it was futile to overthink things.

Rather than wasting time, he thought it best to consider his plans for the future.

He didn’t have many outstanding qualities. Before he transmigrated, he had just been an ordinary office worker, exploited to the brink of death. He wasn’t a prodigious talent, nor did he possess any special abilities. However, he had an unwavering and resilient spirit that grew stronger with every setback.

It was just a single failure. While the consequences of this failure were somewhat serious, they were not irreparable.

There was still a chance for him to proactively resign from his position.

He got out of bed, put on his shoes, and walked to the desk. Picking up the official newspaper, he read its contents carefully, hoping to find some direction.

“Hmm?”

After carefully reading through the content according to his understanding, his eyes suddenly flickered.

“This doesn’t seem right…”

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