Chapter 19: The Nineteenth Cup

Chapter 19: The Nineteenth Cup

Steam filled the bathroom, the sound of water splashing as hot water cascaded down a well-defined neck and collarbone, disappearing into the swirling mist. He Wuning wiped the water droplets from his face, turned off the shower, and let out a long breath.

He glanced at the towel hanging on the rack but didn't reach for it. Yi Luo's voice came from outside the door, "I got you a new towel."

He Wuning paused, water droplets trailing down his chiseled jawline. He squinted slightly, "Did you install a camera in here?"

Yi Luo seemed amused, "Then I'd be recording myself every day, wouldn't I?"

He Wuning called out, "Q."

The monitor Q responded immediately, "Report! Target Yi Luo is behaving normally, sitting on the sofa!"

Yi Luo, who was cleaning his gun outside, raised an eyebrow and mockingly aimed at Q, "Well, no wonder you're always following me around. You little spy?"

"Ah!" Q darted around, trying to evade his aim, "I'm not a spy! I've always been your personal system!"

Yi Luo laughed, "Huh, I find this system quite useful for practicing my shooting..."

He Wuning emerged from the shower, firmly pressing down on Yi Luo's gun, "No bullying it."

Q immediately wailed and burrowed into his arms, "Waaah—"

He Wuning held it equally, casually tossing it into Yi Luo's arms, "No crying."

Yi Luo innocently raised his hands, "I heard the water stop."

He Wuning glanced at him, "I was joking."

Yi Luo jiggled Q, "At least give me a smile, or I'll think I'm about to be executed for being a pervert."

He Wuning sat down on the sofa opposite him, drying his hair,

Yi Luo glanced at He Wuning's wet head, suppressing the urge to touch it. He tossed the borrowed fragment to him, "We've already recorded the image and had Xue Xun ask around. No one could decipher what was written on it."

"At least we have a sample now, which makes searching easier."

"Mm." He Wuning nodded, lifting his eyes, "Shall I use it?"

"It's yours anyway, go ahead." Yi Luo smiled, "By the way, there's some bad news. Our dorm has a curfew. Unless it's an emergency, we can't leave at night."

"The bed is yours; you can sleep in it."

After the battle earlier that day, Yi Luo didn't say it outright, but he didn't want He Wuning going out again tonight.

He Wuning had no objections; he wasn't made of steel and needed sleep too.

Without any hesitation, he took out the peculiar key from his backpack and fused the fragment into it.

The transparent key gained another black iron section, creating a patchy appearance that would drive someone with OCD mad.

Fortunately, He Wuning didn't care.

While He Wuning was bathing, Yi Luo did quite a bit, "Xue Xun sent over information about those people from today."

"The 'Seer' is named Qihong. He has mild intellectual disabilities and shows signs of autism. There aren't many professional diagnostic tools available, so they can only make rough judgments. He often suffered from malnutrition during his youth and had some physical deformities, probably why he was assigned to the group with extremely weak physical abilities. His ability, however, is quite good."

"He can randomly see parts of the future, but it's uncontrollable and incomplete. According to his uncle, the visions he sees are usually crucial moments."

"In any case, they are now protected. They found a player who used to be a psychologist, trying to teach him how to describe his visions more accurately."

He Wuning listened, occasionally nodding in response, and opened his skill tree. He now had 13% administrator authority, and the fragment from the giant Slime contributed 5%. He initially thought each fragment was 4%, totaling 25 pieces.

Q whispered, "Not just one player can obtain fragments. The total isn't limited to 100%! However, only one person can reach 100%."

He Wuning nodded, looking at Yi Luo, "What level are you?"

"Level 4." He Wuning shook his head, "Stuck due to system level restrictions."

He Wuning pondered, "Let me see your skill tree."

"Hey, do I have any privacy left..." Yi Luo complained but still shared his skill tree with him—there was no point hiding such a useless skill.

Initial unlocked vehicle repair, Level 2 +5 durability cap, Level 3 50% faster repair speed, Level 4 +5 durability cap, Level 5 vehicle aesthetics and decoration...

Perhaps because the system was so useless, Yi Luo, despite being Level 5, had two unspent skill points, likely forgotten.

He Wuning silently observed for a few seconds, his eyes carrying a hint of sympathy. Yi Luo protested, "Hey, don't look at me like that."

He Wuning withdrew his gaze. He had noticed that Yi Luo's skills, like his own, could now be improved, but each improvement required a percentage of administrator authority.

Q reminded him, "Using it means it's gone forever. I suggest you save up a bit more before considering improvements for others..."

Its voice trailed off, glancing guiltily at Yi Luo.

"You can modify my skill tree?" Yi Luo sat up straight, then understood something from their conversation, looking at He Wuning's key, "Modifying it will consume the fragment?"

"Mm." He Wuning acknowledged, staring intently at his skill tree.

Yi Luo frowned, thinking for a moment, then shook his head, "That fragment is something no one in the command center has seen, indicating a low drop rate. As Q said, you should focus on yourself first..."

"Just 5%, and I don't have any particularly good improvement options." He Wuning spoke directly, "Because the drop rate is low, we need to consider the cost-effectiveness. The monsters keep getting stronger; keeping this won't help me when I'm dead."

Yi Luo was momentarily speechless but couldn't argue. He Wuning lifted his eyelids, "Besides, I'm just looking. Who said I'd definitely use it on you?"

Yi Luo chuckled, "Sure, sure, I'm being presumptuous."

He was curious, "How can it be modified?"

He Wuning glanced over. "Increasing the durability cap doesn't seem very useful to me. What I'm interested in is the one you haven't selected yet—the vehicle beautification at level 5. It could be changed to basic vehicle modification, but the blueprints are random, so who knows what we'll get."

"How's your luck?"

Yi Luo fell silent for a moment before speaking with difficulty, "What do you think of my luck after drawing this system?"

He Wuning: "……"

Yi Luo took a deep breath. "But it can't get any worse than this."

He forced a light-hearted laugh. "As long as there's hope, once you collect more fragments, I..."

He Wuning tilted his head. "It says that if I change the skill tree, subsequent skills will also be significantly altered. There might even be situations where later skills require fragments to unlock. Should I change it?"

Yi Luo was taken aback. "You...?"

He Wuning remained expressionless. "If you want to thank me, you can skip this part."

"No, I just wanted to ask—do you need me to offer myself?" Yi Luo sat up straight, his expression serious.

"Get lost." He Wuning lifted an eyelid and clicked confirm without hesitation. The branches of the skill tree flashed with "1"s and "0"s, eventually forming a new interface.

The skill He Wuning had spent 3% of his administrator authority on lit up, now labeled "Basic Vehicle Modification—Attack Direction."

Q-jam explained, "Since he doesn't have administrator authority, he can't have the Administrator Key. This is a commission ring, proof of receiving administrator authority."

Yi Luo was stunned. "I can hear it now, 'administrator authority'? No more blocking?"

Q-jam muttered, "Since you're using it anyway, why block you?"

He Wuning was more concerned about something else. "What blueprint did you draw?"

Yi Luo took a deep breath and smiled. "A good one—the blueprint for an offensive bumper. Once modified, the milk tea cart will deal more damage when colliding with monsters."

He tossed the blueprint to He Wuning and rummaged through his backpack for the mechanical parts needed. "I've saved quite a bit of materials; maybe they'll be enough. Let me check..."

He Wuning looked at the blueprint in his hand.

**Offensive Bumper—Basic**

**Function:** Adds 200 damage to the vehicle, durability 20/20

He Wuning waved Q-jam over, who eagerly approached him. "What's up, darling?"

He Wuning pointed at the blueprint. "The bumper has durability too. Is it separate from the milk tea cart?"

"This is an additional modification part, so its durability is separate! It depends on where the monster attacks, and the durability is deducted individually!"

He Wuning pondered. "Since the durability is separate, can the skill that increases durability also be used separately?"

"You can give it a try," Yi Luo said after tallying his materials. He waved He Wuning over. "Come on, let's install it?"

He Wuning: "…Didn't you say there's a curfew here?"

"There's a curfew, but no window curfew." Yi Luo skillfully removed the screen from the dorm window and climbed out. "Oh no, you should stay and sleep. I'll go alone..."

He Wuning held up the blueprint. "This is still with me."

He nodded toward the window. "Lead the way."

Yi Luo laughed and nimbly jumped out the window, landing on the ledge below. He looked up to see He Wuning leap out like a graceful feline, grabbing a branch outside and swinging down lightly to the ground.

He Wuning dusted off his hands, casually slipping them into his pockets as he walked alongside Yi Luo. Suddenly, a loud "clang" echoed behind them. They both turned around—

Xue Xun, working late and drinking tea under the moonlight, was left holding only a lid, with tea leaves scattered on the floor and the teapot spinning like a top. He stared at them, bewildered, looking up.

Yi Luo boldly pulled He Wuning closer. "What are you staring at? Haven't seen anyone eloping at night?"

He Wuning immediately kicked him, but Yi Luo dodged deftly. They continued their playful sparring as they walked towards the gate.

Xue Xun instinctively wanted to call out but feared disturbing the neighbors. He gritted his teeth and whispered fiercely through the security bars on the first-floor window, "You two... Hey! Stop fighting!"

Author's note:

Yi Luo: Do you need me to offer myself?

He Wuning: Get lost.

Yi Luo: He didn't say no.

Thank you to those who voted for me or watered the nutrient solution between August 12, 2021, 03:28:35 AM and August 13, 2021, 02:02:01 AM.

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