Two Brothers

Yang Zhanbai brazenly replied, “A great kindness needs no thanks,” and began chatting about this and that.

Zhu Yan gave the occasional response while leisurely scrolling through posts and entries.

There was nothing new under the entry for “Tan Yu Temple.” The search engine didn’t even have an introduction or any pictures of the temple.

Zhu Yan only found out that the temple was located in the mountains. Because of the temple’s unusual terrain, visitors had to climb several flights of steps after entering before they could pay their respects to the extremely efficacious statue of Guanyin.

Zhu Yan turned off his phone and closed his eyes to rest.

Meanwhile, after finishing his meal, Director Jin finally sent Jin Rongxu a reply.

“Things are going all right—more smoothly than I expected.”

“I originally thought we wouldn’t be able to keep the matter of the [Western Suburb Shelter] hidden, and that the higher-ups would definitely come after us.”

“But now that I think about it, the Western Suburb Shelter actually had the fewest casualties.”

The replies were all very straightforward, but they weren’t the information Zhu Yan wanted to hear.

After thinking for a moment, Zhu Yan asked, “We’ve fought Hunter No. 1 several times. What about Nos. 2 and 3...?”

Director Jin said, “Hunter No. 1 has a partner, but we don’t know which number he is.”

“After you read Qiu Lingxiao’s thoughts last time and told me about them, I went to test Qiu Lingkai and Qiu Dehai. Neither of them revealed any flaws.”

Zhu Yan remembered.

There had indeed been such an incident...

At the time, he had openly hidden in the office and eavesdropped, while Jin Rongxu had angrily declared that they had found two Hunters.

What was more, getting these two men’s names had been incredibly easy.

With their names, there was plenty of room to maneuver.

“We’ll discuss this later. Those two aren’t easy to deal with, and no matter what we do, we can’t afford to offend them.”

Zhu Yan asked, “Uncle, did you find out how their brother died?”

“You mean Qiu Lingfeng?” Director Jin took the bait, as expected. “All I know is that it was an accidental death. He died inside a dungeon. I don’t know the specifics.”

Zhu Yan now understood. The two brothers he needed to investigate were Qiu Lingkai and Qiu Lingfeng.

Knowing full well what the answer would be, he asked, “Are we going to Silver Bay or Eastern Axis? Qiu Lingxiao took a plane there and said we should meet up.”

As expected, Director Jin let slip some crucial information.

“Those two places are currently the largest underground city and research base in the Eastern Domain. They won’t be easy to break into.”

“This public-test dungeon draws people in indiscriminately. We still don’t know how many people will survive.”

Director Jin paused for a moment before continuing, “In any case, we should get inside and secure a place first. Those locations have priority access to information and comprehensive supplies. At the very least, they’ll ensure our survival during the initial stage of the dungeon’s full-scale descent.”

Zhu Yan used “Jin Rongxu” to reply with an “Okay.”

He pulled the blanket over himself, leaned back against the seat, and drifted into a hazy sleep.

When he opened his eyes again, he discovered that it was nearly dusk outside, and the vehicle had stopped once more.

Captain Zheng and Director Jin were smoking outside the vehicle. Gripping the soft edge of the military blanket, Zhu Yan saw that they had arrived at another strange rest stop.

This time, the shop was called [Xiaoxiao Roasted Meat Shop]. Red electric neon lights framed the name, casting a faint reflection on the damp ground.

Yang Zhanbai and Guan En were standing at the takeaway window, threatening the impostor.

Zhu Yan opened the door and jumped down. Captain Zheng let out a hearty laugh and teased him.

“Well, look at you! What have you been up to that’s left you so exhausted? You slept for three hours. We came down and dealt with a gang of robbers while you were out, and you didn’t even wake up.”

Zhu Yan replied coyly in his heart.

Of course I was busy being a Hunter!

Out loud, he said, “I must not have gotten over the shock, Captain Zheng. I kept having nightmares just now. What happened this morning was terrifying.”

He had to admit, sleeping for three hours had felt wonderful.

Now that he was refreshed, it was time to get down to business.

A large mass of [Mist] drifted out of the puppet Zhu Zeyu’s body. Maintaining his [Invisibility], Zhu Yan condensed beside Zhu Zeyu.

“You really haven’t seen much of the world,” Captain Zheng said with a hearty laugh, patting Zhu Zeyu on the shoulder. “If you’d spent two months in Bailu City, you’d be different. Come on, back into the vehicle.”

Yang Zhanbai had already returned from the roasted-meat shop, his hands full of spoils.

“Captain Zheng, you take a rest. I’ll drive,” he insisted. “We’ll be there in two hours. Go get some sleep.”

Captain Zheng looked more than happy to comply.

He hurried into the passenger seat, while Zhu Zeyu walked around to the other side and opened the door for Director Jin.

But Zhu Yan didn’t get in with them—

Maintaining his [Invisibility], he stood where he was and watched the three military vehicles drive farther and farther away. In a low voice, he said, “Stay safe.”

The next second.

Zhu Yan felt himself land on something incredibly soft. The Tuxedo Cat’s fluffy body crashed down beside him, making it let out a “meow.”

“You finally made a normal cat sound,” Zhu Yan said.

He picked up the Tuxedo Cat and carefully examined it.

After confirming that the creature hadn’t suffered any injuries, Zhu Yan climbed quietly out of bed and switched on the light.

The room was still exactly as it had been when the others left. Two old jackets were draped over the back of Yang Zhanbai’s chair, and an electrical plug—forgotten by someone—lay on the dining table.

“The teleportation array sure is convenient.”

After making that comment, Zhu Yan grabbed the Tuxedo Cat, which had been poking its head over the edge of the bed, and scooped it up.

“Come on. We’re going to the [Nightmare Bookshop]!”

Zhu Yan wasn’t actually sure whether this place had been pulled into a dungeon.

The entire journey was frighteningly silent. The gray fog completely blocked out the sun, while weeds had run rampant along both sides of the road, making Zhu Yan feel as if he had wandered into some kind of wasteland.

The school library looked even more grotesque.

Its surface was completely covered in a layer of viscous black sludge. From a distance, it looked like a black candle that was constantly melting.

The library’s glass doors glowed with a bright red sheen.

Step by step, Zhu Yan climbed the stairs, which had become as soft as sponges. When he was nearly at the top, a greeting suddenly sounded beside his ear.

“Ah—oh, little Hunter.”

Startled, Zhu Yan whipped around. His gaze collided with the Slime’s two eyeballs, embedded in its mass of flesh.

They seemed to be newly replaced. Zhu Yan could clearly see the bloody membranes covering them.

“I knew you wouldn’t be able to resist coming,” the Slime said.

The Slime wriggled its obese body and waved its two bone spines.

It pushed open the glass door with Zhu Yan, then let out a sinister, cackling laugh.

“This door is made from genuine glass candy. It’s edible, though humans don’t tend to like the texture.”

The [Nightmare Bookshop] was filled with fluorescent mushrooms.

The Slime crawled over the plants like a slug. As usual, it stopped on top of the largest pink mushroom and asked, “Tell me. Which people do you want to investigate?”

“Qiu Lingxiao, Qiu Lingkai, and Qiu Lingfeng.” Zhu Yan gave the three names without hesitation.

The Slime froze. “Them?”

“Yes,” Zhu Yan said. “What’s the price?”

“Their identities are special, so they’re very expensive. Six thousand bone coins in total, kid.”

That was manageable. Investigating “Zhu Zeyu” had cost two thousand bone coins as well.

Zhu Yan paid without hesitation. He watched as the Slime rummaged through a thick stack of documents, then pulled out two sheets of paper and handed them over.

The first sheet contained Qiu Lingxiao’s information.

Zhu Yan skipped straight to the one that belonged to Qiu Lingfeng.