(Side Story) Su Xun 011

“So what you’re saying is, my dim-witted disciple dutifully stood guard at the boundary between the human world and the world of the strange, saved a bunch of reckless idiots who came there looking for thrills, and then got killed by those same people?” Fang Zhiyi looked at the two before him.

Xiaotao lowered her head. “Teacher, by the time we arrived, it was already too late. We discussed it and decided to come back and report to you first.”

Fang Zhiyi took a deep breath. “Well, besides him, there was also a female ghost, right?”

“A female ghost? We didn’t see one.” Xiaotao looked puzzled.

Fang Zhiyi drew another deep breath.

“Teacher, I’m sorry. Should I go back there...” Xiaotao nervously rubbed her hands together. Fang Zhiyi had personally sought her out and brought her into the Quick-Transmigration Bureau, but something had gone wrong on her very first recruitment assignment.

Yan Qi still retained his military habits. He raised his hand in a salute. “Sir, there’s something suspicious about this matter. If necessary, I can—”

Fang Zhiyi waved him off. “This isn’t your fault. I’ll make a trip there myself. Go see Liu Shishi and look over the materials I left behind. There are still several worlds that need to be handled.”

(Xiaotao is from the main story, Cannon Fodder. Yan Qi is from the main story, Bandit Troubles.)

“Huh? Huh? Where did he go?” The moment Liu Shishi appeared, Fang Zhiyi and Little Hei had already vanished.

“Teacher just left...” Xiaotao said.

“That impulsive fool. He left without even signing the paperwork. He’ll have to fill it all out again afterward.” Liu Shishi grumbled, then added, “Forget it. I’ll handle the paperwork for him. You two, come with me.”

“Little Hei, what’s the plot? Can you access it?” Fang Zhiyi asked.

Little Hei paused for a moment.

“Your Yue Anyao sent over a message.”

After Fang Zhiyi left, Zhao Chengyang took over the male lead’s role of blocking the passage through which the strange entities invaded the human world. At the same time, he and his lover, Little Li, lived in that desolate place, far from everyone else.

As time passed, Li Dong, the male lead, died. One by one, all those who had once fought against the invasion of the strange entities passed away as well. Records of those entities survived only in history books, and even there, they occupied no more than a few sparse lines. Several centuries later, they were dismissed as superstition and legend.

Originally, that would have been fine.

But then a certain remarkable fool appeared.

A young outdoor livestreamer named Lin Wei, determined to create something that would draw massive attention, began investigating old folk legends. Before long, he really did find some clues. Following a route absent from all official records, he discovered a lonely house standing by itself.

What followed were all manner of bizarre incidents, and he nearly lost his life.

Until a man and a woman saved him.

The pair were Zhao Chengyang and his wife. Zhao Chengyang was somewhat surprised by the sudden appearance of a human, but driven by the desire to save him, he drove away the weaker strange entities lingering nearby.

But that one rescue brought disaster upon them.

Lin Wei patted his chest and promised that he would forget everything once he returned home. Yet after Zhao Chengyang escorted him safely out of the area, he immediately embellished his experience and told everyone about it.

People questioned whether he had made the whole story up.

Lin Wei could only repeat what he had seen, over and over, trying to convince them that it was real.

Then someone sent him a private message, offering to organize a team to search for the supernatural forces he had described.

Lin Wei met with the person. She was Ye Ruoyu, a wealthy young heiress obsessed with the supernatural. The two hit it off immediately and formed an expedition team to begin a new journey of exploration.

Perhaps Lin Wei’s luck was simply absurdly good. After their compasses failed, all communication devices lost signal, and the team became lost, they arrived at that place once more.

And Ye Ruoyu saw them too—the grotesquely shaped strange entities. They seemed eager to approach, but a thin man stood in their way.

Before long, the group learned the truth. The legend of the strange entities invading centuries ago had been real.

And the man before them was the one guarding this passage. For hundreds of years, he and his wife had remained here without ever leaving.

But when they saw Zhao Chengyang’s wife, everyone froze.

No matter how they looked at her, this woman did not seem alive.

Her voice was gentle and her smile bright, but her pale, cracked skin and the red light in her pupils made it clear that she, too, was one of the strange entities.

Zhao Chengyang had spent centuries here, and he had begun to forget humanity’s greed and treachery. Even if he racked his brains, he could never have imagined that these humans would want to capture a living strange entity and take it back for research.

And his wife, Little Li, became their target.

Zhao Chengyang was caught off guard and severely wounded. Ye Ruoyu tried to seize Little Li while he was down, but she had badly underestimated the power of a strange entity—especially one who had just watched her husband fall to the brink of death.

In an instant, more than half the team was killed or wounded. If Little Li had not needed to tend to Zhao Chengyang, Ye Ruoyu and the others would all have died there.

They managed to escape, but that was when the real trouble began.

Zhao Chengyang vanished, and the strange entities that had been suppressed for centuries began invading the human world once more.

The legends recorded in history books became reality. The strange games began again, only this time the stakes were far greater. Whenever humanity lost a game, an entire city would be corrupted by the strange entities, and all the humans there would become their food.

Humanity took up the fight once again.

Several outstanding players emerged from the games and became humanity’s hope.

“These people are kind of hilarious,” Little Hei said, shaking his head. “Do they even realize that the source of all this chaos was caused by the so-called heroes they worship? Everything was perfectly fine, but they just had to stir things up. They must have way too much time on their hands!”

Fang Zhiyi let out a cold laugh. “Their death wish is their own problem. But they laid hands on my disciple. There’s no way this ends here.” He paused. “Even if Zhao Chengyang is dead, I’ll drag him back.”

“If he died in the world of the strange, that’ll be really difficult. His soul might have been eaten too.” Little Hei sighed. “But we can’t break the world’s timeline, either...”

“Let’s see what happened first.”

“Yue Anyao really does treat you well. She even found a body for you,” Little Hei teased.

Fang Zhiyi smiled faintly.

“Other than her cooking, there’s nothing to complain about.”

“Would you dare say that to her face?”

“If you want me dead, just say so. There’s no need to provoke me.”

“Oh, please. She wouldn’t have the heart to touch you. Look at how many of your people are in the Quick-Transmigration Bureau now. Yue Anyao already has four daughters and two sons, and she still hasn’t lost her temper. You should count your blessings.”

“Wasn’t that to help lighten her workload? And really, isn’t it all because of you?”

“We’re here. Get ready to work. It’s been a long time since we handled a job ourselves. I’m actually a little excited.”