Zhu Yan put on an affected air as he stored the bone spike he had forcibly snatched into his ring, then suddenly had an idea.
“We can skip the membership,” he said pompously, leading the bank manager toward the elevator.
A wisp of invisible 【Mist】 remained in the crack of the door, secretly peering inside to make sure the horrifying creature within couldn’t hear anything happening outside.
The Fake-Person Manager hurried to catch up and pressed the elevator button before Zhu Yan could.
“There’s one more thing I need your assistance with,” Zhu Yan said.
“Please, go ahead.” The Fake-Person Manager agreed readily. “Rest assured, we’ll arrange the largest and finest apartment in the 【Fake-Person District】 for you.”
“Do you know Ji Xiting?” Zhu Yan asked.
The Fake-Person Manager fell silent.
Its cold, black eyes shifted toward Zhu Yan as it simulated a deferential tone. “Please continue.”
“They invited me to become a believer.” Zhu Yan deliberately kept his wording vague. “According to the process, you’re supposed to arrange for a high-ranking believer to introduce me and guide me into the faith…”
Zhu Yan didn’t really know much about religion.
But his memory was fairly good. He was pretty sure he hadn’t gotten anything wrong.
He cautiously studied the manager’s expressionless face and waited.
The elevator descended floor by floor. When the number finally stopped at 1, the manager at last spoke.
“No problem, sir.”
Zhu Yan breathed a sigh of relief.
“This will be somewhat difficult, but we can make it happen for you.” Its tone was exceptionally respectful. “May I have your mailing address? We’ll contact you as soon as we have any news.”
Zhu Yan followed the manager through a series of complicated procedures. His Fake-Person friend was carefully settled in a lounge, where it enthusiastically devoured a large plate of dried meat and aged eyeball tea.
By the time Zhu Yan had sat at the counter and signed the final agreement, the doll behind the counter respectfully handed him a yellow apartment key card, a copy of the 【Certificate of Full Ownership of an Apartment in the Fake-Person District】, and a bunch of crisp eyeball flowers.
“Congratulations!” A rare hint of emotion appeared in the doll’s voice. “We hope you enjoy your stay!”
The mission for 【Fangcun Mountain】 was finally complete.
Zhu Yan gave the bank manager the address of his apartment in the 【Fake-Person District】 as his mailing address in 【Joyous Paradise】. He then put the bunch of eyeball flowers into his ring, intending to give them to the Tuxedo Cat as a snack.
Only after he finally boarded the returning 【Monster Tram】 with the exhausted Fake-Person did the taut string in his mind loosen somewhat.
“You’re incredible, my friend!” the Fake-Person exclaimed admiringly, stroking its round belly. “I heard they gave you the largest villa. Can I go visit?”
Zhu Yan thought of The Art Student.
That place would probably be needed for whatever came after 【Fangcun Mountain】, but…
“After it’s been renovated,” he stalled. “I have one… actually, two cats. You can help me look after them.”
The Fake-Person asked, “Do you need a game console? I brought two over from the human world, along with a bunch of game discs.”
The Fake-Person tugged at Zhu Yan and chattered on the whole way. It wasn’t until Zhu Yan got off at the 【Lazy Crafts Shop】 stop that it finally bade him a reluctant farewell.
“Hope you have a satisfying feast in the public-beta instance, my friend!”
…
“Oh… What?!”
Zhu Yan’s hand jerked in surprise, spilling a little of the freshly brewed hot tea.
“What’s there to be surprised about?” Feining rolled her eyes dramatically. “Isn’t it perfectly normal for an existence like that to give someone like him a weapon?”
“I thought the Joyful Buddha wouldn’t descend for a long time yet,” Zhu Yan said.
“Ji Xiting isn’t the Joyful Buddha,” Dragonfly muttered. “Honestly, what were you thinking, getting involved with something like that?”
Zhu Yan didn’t respond.
After thinking for several seconds, he said, “Ji Xiting looks like he used to be human.”
“Mm.”
“He looks about the same age as me. We don’t look like people from different eras, either.”
“Mm.”
“That means he might not have been dead for very long. So why has he become so powerful?”
This had always been one of Zhu Yan’s questions.
“Maybe he was already extremely devout when he was alive,” Feining replied indifferently. “He might even have sacrificed his parents, his family, or someone else. Who cares? What would knowing the answer change?”
She began tapping and hammering at the bone spike. “Level seventeen… I can raise it to level eighteen. That’s the limit of this thing.”
Zhu Yan wanted to ask Feining how to kill Ji Xiting permanently.
But then he remembered that 【Joyous Paradise】 could monitor everything that happened here, so he wisely kept his mouth shut.
Besides, he didn’t necessarily have to ask Dragonfly. Asking The Art Student would work just as well.
Ten minutes later, Zhu Yan accepted the stark-white bone spike, now fitted with a handle, from Feining and politely thanked her.
“And there’s this.” Zhu Yan took a small box from his ring and handed it over. “Take a look at it for me. There’s a gu worm inside. It didn’t come with any instructions, and I need to implant it into a player’s body.”
He hadn’t forgotten about his mission in the instance 【A Vacation of Hidden Currents】.
He needed to implant this gu worm into Director Jin’s body, turning him into an avatar—or perhaps a puppet—of some powerful existence.
Zhu Yan had delayed doing so for a long time. Partly because he had too many other matters to deal with and the mission deadline had been extended considerably, but also because he wanted to find out exactly what kind of power lay behind the gu worm.
Feining swallowed, and her expression changed.
The way she looked at the gu worm was like someone who hadn’t eaten for three days staring at a table laden with delicacies.
“Precious,” she pronounced.
Zhu Yan wanted to ask what made it precious. “What exactly is this? Which faction does it belong to? It doesn’t look like anything from the Joyful Buddha…”
“Of course it isn’t from the Snow Domain,” Feining snorted. “Oh, how did you end up with this, too? I’d say you and your colleagues can forget about ever working together.”
“What do you mean?”
“Do you think horrifying creatures don’t fight over territory and food?” Feining gave him a meaningful look. “You can’t expect things from the Snow Domain to stay there, and you can’t expect every powerful horrifying creature to join the 【Deep Abyss Eye Club】 and willingly kill time with those offerings and boring games.”
“There are far more types of horrifying creatures than you imagine. What if one type—or several types—has no intelligence at all?”
“What if one day…”
Feining pulled out a sheet of paper and began scribbling on it with a fountain pen.
“Your bone coins and talent for sophistry are completely useless against them. What if they don’t think in any way that you’re familiar with?”
Zhu Yan was about to ask more, but Feining rudely shoved the paper into his arms and gestured for him to leave.
“Some questions are beyond what I can answer. I can’t reveal anything in advance.”
“Take these instructions for using the gu worm. Have an enjoyable mission, Cautious Hunter!”
his freshman year, Su Bai accidentally bound the "Indulgence Tycoon System." 【Sleeping in? Reward: +$1,000】 【Spent $288 at a street barbecue stall? Cashback: +$2,880】 【Dropped $14,396 on in-game skins? Special reward unlocked: A brand-new Porsche Panamera!】 Luxury cars, penthouses, corporate shares, financial empires… College life was all about living freely and doing whatever he pleased! … When the adorably naive academic genius faced family medical bills and financial struggles, Su Bai waved his hand dismissively: "Your future is on me." "Wuwu~ Big Brother is so good to me! I’ll become a scientist to repay you!" When the genius girl got bullied by a shady professor? Su Bai casually dropped a billion-dollar investment, forcing the university to grovel and beg for her return. A company’s funding chain collapsing? Su Bai smirked—cash was the one thing he’d never run out of. Years later, when people traced the rise of the AI prodigy beauty, who was the man behind her success? Not just that—Su Bai also became the tsundere campus belle’s unattainable dream, the contrast senior’s daily necessity, and the beautiful counselor’s emotional anchor…
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
ine. During your journey, you save an abandoned baby girl and become her elder brother】 【You rely on each other, becoming each other's support】 【At the end of the simulation, you shield the now-grown girl with your life, sacrificing yourself to block numerous demonic cultivators. You die, and the light in the girl's eyes fades】 …… 【Second Simulation: You are transported to a world where steam and magic coexist】 【You immerse yourself in the study of magic, obsessed with its research. One day, while out, you encounter a half-blooded demon girl wandering the streets. You take her in as your student】 【You teach the demoness what it means to be human, show her the beauty of the world, and nurture her into a miracle that surpasses even the gods】 【At the end of the simulation, you die of old age in front of the nearly immortal demoness due to your mortal lifespan】 …… One simulation after another, one encounter after another. Xu Xi suddenly felt something was off: "Wait, you said you're coming to the real world to find me?"
to panic—he has a system. As long as an investment target dies, he can claim a reward. And since he is immortal, the one thing he has plenty of is time. ... Countless years later. “Immortal Emperor of Longevity? I invested in him.” “Supreme Celestial Venerable? I invested in him.” “Undying Empress? I invested in her.” “...” “Heh. Once they’ve all died, even the Heavenly Dao will have to kneel and call me Dad.”
