The White Building

The surviving players began making their way over one after another, so Jin Rongxu said no more.

Yang Zhanbai, Qi Yinming, and Zhu Yan climbed onto the bus and slipped into the last row of seats.

“This isn’t quite what I expected,” Yang Zhanbai commented at once, deliberately lowering his voice.

“But someone that powerful is bound to be a little proud.”

“Looks like he doesn’t even notice anyone who isn’t strong enough,” Qi Yinming murmured in agreement. “What did he mean by a large-scale instance in a month?”

“Can the official organization really obtain such important information in advance?”

He glanced at Zhu Yan, then at Yang Zhanbai.

Zhu Yan did not volunteer anything.

A large-scale instance was essentially the Ability Harvesting Conference.

When he had altered his memories the previous night, he had also used the information on file with the Human Alliance under the name “Zhu Zeyu” to modify his abilities accordingly, changing them to the Level Five [Complaining].

He remembered that the last time, the people from the Human Alliance had taken him to open an account, and then he had undergone a “verification test” at the shopping mall, where he met Director Jin.

At the time, Zhu Yan had been chatting with Guan En under the identity of “Zhu Zeyu,” hoping Guan En would feed him more resources so he could level up as quickly as possible during that month.

The Human Alliance could even find out about a large-scale instance a month in advance. They should have plenty of small instances like these for grinding ability levels, right?

Couldn’t they assign him a few that he could clear just by killing, killing, and killing? He wanted to freeload. He was seriously exhausted!

Zhu Yan sighed, accidentally voicing his thoughts aloud.

“So, could you take us through a few small instances? I really want to improve!”

Yang Zhanbai shook his head. “It’ll probably be difficult if Captain Jin leads the team personally.”

“…Then just tell me where the instances are.”

Zhu Yan let out a long sigh.

He really wanted to inspect his abilities and status screen while they were on the road.

But the player marker on the puppet’s hand was fake, so he couldn’t do that. He could only work it all out in his head.

Going by the levels, his [Bringing Glory to the Ancestors] should need two more instances before reaching Level Seven. [Telekinesis] should also be just about ready to reach Level Six.

[Shield] should already be Level Four, while [I Absolutely Have to Take Advantage of This] needed two more instances to reach Level Six.

[Infidelity] had been Level Five before. He didn’t know how many more instances it needed to reach Level Six.

As for [Complaining] and [Bullying], both abilities were definitely already Level Six.

If Zhu Yan remembered correctly, they were like [Acting]: both needed just one more instance to reach Level Seven.

As for [Acting], it had reached Level Six while he was grinding through the second small instance at the Feng residence. Counting the banquet afterward and the [Metabolism Module], it should reach Level Seven after he cleared [Where Is Mom?].

And [Everyone Has Their Own Fate]…

Well, that one was still the weakest. It remained at Level Three, because Zhu Yan simply couldn’t find an opportunity to use it.

The instances he had gone through lately had all been far too difficult.

Those terrifying creatures were routinely above Level Ten. Where could a low-level ability like that possibly find a use?

Zhu Yan sighed.

He had too many abilities.

He couldn’t keep them all fed!

…

This time, the buses changed destinations.

The bus they were on joined up with several buses from other schools. Several dozen minutes later, it slowly entered a narrow road in the old district.

Anwu City appeared to be under a complete lockdown. Along the way, Zhu Yan did not see a single shop still open.

The streets that had once been bustling were now bleak and deserted. Even the cars lining both sides of the roads had been towed away, leaving the whole area empty and desolate. It looked like a dead city.

Only occasionally, through the windows of the residential buildings on either side, could Zhu Yan catch glimpses of people standing by the glass and looking outside.

If not for the occasional players from the Human Alliance in black uniforms and the supply trucks parked along the streets, Zhu Yan would truly have thought the city had been completely abandoned.

No one spoke during the journey, and Zhu Yan did not take out his phone either.

In a situation this chaotic, the information online was no longer important.

The public test had not even begun, and quite a few people had yet to experience an instance.

At a time like this, the important thing was to keep pushing, make sure his strength continued to improve steadily, and use his multiple identities to establish a firm foothold.

Yang Zhanbai, however, was bored enough to keep looking at his phone. Whenever he got tired of that, he would quietly share bits of information with the two people beside him.

“It’s a mess. A complete mess. But the news has already gotten out, and most people in the other cities have been stockpiling supplies.”

“The Human Alliance has set up a Strategic Materials Department. Did you know that?”

Yang Zhanbai lowered his voice and slowly scrolled through the information piece by piece.

“Oh, and the military has merged in too. I’ve noticed that some people online are surprisingly good at guessing things. Guan En told me the military really has been deliberately sending people into the instances.”

Zhu Yan asked, “Does Guan En have nothing better to do every day than chat with you?”

“Not exactly.” Yang Zhanbai pondered for a moment. “He usually asks me about certain things. He’s quite interested in you, but you’re often offline, so he asks me instead.”

Zhu Yan wanted to ask what exactly Guan En was interested in, and whether he intended to provide him with resources or take him through some easy instances.

But they were almost there—

The bus slowly made its way through the old city center before turning off to the side and entering through an impressive Chinese-style gate.

They drove along a broad avenue lined with plane trees, then stopped in the parking lot beside it.

Next to the parking lot stood an inconspicuous white office building of perhaps ten floors. Zhu Yan could make out the green plants in some of the offices and the white, gridded ceiling lights.

“Please get off the bus in an orderly fashion. Once you’re off, line up for the security check.”

Guan En stood up to give the instructions, deliberately glancing at Zhu Zeyu and Yang Zhanbai.

Hm. They looked obedient enough. They probably wouldn’t cause any trouble.

Of everyone on this bus, the two of them were the most valuable.

Zhu Zeyu’s [Complaining] should already have reached Level Five.

Yang Zhanbai’s [Shang Yang] should also have reached Level Four.

Both abilities were still seedlings in the cultivation tanks, but Director Jin had singled them out by name. After being carefully selected from countless candidates, it was obvious that they were wanted by the higher-ups.

Guan En did not know whether the higher-ups were merely an excuse—

It was also possible that that sly old fox, Director Jin, intended to keep one of the abilities for Jin Rongxu, his nephew whom he treated like his own son.

But that had nothing to do with Guan En.

All he had to do was handle this assignment properly and continue receiving generous resources.

Zhu Yan controlled the puppet as it jumped off the bus, then followed the others toward the entrance of the white building and joined the security-check line.

Along the way, players kept greeting him. Even the bespectacled male player he had rescued struck up a friendly conversation with him.

This time, however, the security check was unusually slow.

Zhu Yan was tenth in line. It took a full thirty minutes before he finally reached the shabby security desk.