Chapter 327: Chat

Chapter 327 Chat

66 drifted into the Mission Management Bureau, radiating a faint sense of doom.

It couldn’t even muster the energy to recall what its host had done or how many points it would get.

Ye Wang wasn’t dead, and with the contract signed, 66's already nonexistent binding force dwindled to absolute zero. Floating midair, it watched indifferently as its host delivered milk to his nemesis, kicked the pool hall's power box until it exploded, then dragged his beaten-up nemesis back home to kiss and lock lips.

Nemesis—yeah, sure. Hah, some nemesis.

66 thought, "Ah, what a familiar routine."

After all, 66’s hosts always ended up falling for their nemeses. It had grown numb to it.

In the end, it couldn’t even be bothered to remind Ye Wang—not like he’d listen anyway.

"Just wipe me out already," 66 mused. "It’s just another penalty loop. Let’s get it over with."

But no matter how much it mentally checked out, it still had to maintain absolute professionalism in front of its superior.

Head hung low, 66 halted before the Mainframe and robotically launched into its apology.

"I’m sorry, Master Mainframe. I’ve failed your trust. I screwed up again."

The Mainframe: "..."

It hadn’t even had the chance to display the score yet.

Letting out a quiet sigh, it replaced the "42" on the screen with a cheery pixelated smiley face: "^ ^ Alright, 66, it’s punishment time then."

Still moping, 66 asked, "What’s the verdict? Am I banned from talking to my host, or is there some other condition?"

It had been through a penalty round once before—back then, it wasn’t allowed to speak to its host.

The Mainframe: "Neither. This time, you’ll have to be the host yourself."

"!!!"

66 looked up, shocked. "What!?"

The Mainframe smiled mysteriously. "This time, 66 will have to act as the host."

"..."

66: "QAQ"

This was downright horrifying.

The Mainframe: "Since your hosts are always unreliable, why not take matters into your own hands, 66? Surely you won’t get soft on the mission target, right?"

"..."

For some reason, 66 took a step back, stammering, "N-no way!"

The Mainframe: "Of course, considering your lack of experience, I’ll allow you to ask your past hosts for pointers. Once you enter the alternate world, you can add them all to a group chat and ask for their advice."

66: "..."

66’s hosts came from different worlds, many of whom were top-tier experts in their fields. This was one hell of a cheat.

But 66's hair stood on end. After a long pause, it stammered, "But their scores are all terrible."

First, there was Xiao Shao's glorious 59, followed by Ye Wang's 42, not to mention Wen Xian's mind-blowing 33, along with a host of other borderline-passing 'prodigies'.

Can a bunch of academic disasters really turn into an academic ace when put together?

With such a group of "'gold-star' advisors" backing it up, 66 was doomed.

"..."

The Main Brain fell silent.

After hesitating for a long time, it half-heartedly offered, "Well... there is at least one high scorer."

Yes, out of ten hosts in total, only one managed to crack 70 points.

To gather so many "talented" individuals, 66 hit the jackpot... of terrible luck.

66: "QAQ"

Faced with the system's puppy-dog eyes, the Main Brain guiltily averted its gaze and coughed. "Alright, 66, let's look at the mission plot. I've picked a relatively simple one for you."

Data streamed as the plot unfolded on the screen.

This was a world of Sentinels and Guides.

Sentinels possessed greater combat abilities but were prone to losing control and going berserk, requiring the calming influence of a Guide's mental energy. Guides, on the other hand, were physically weak and lacked self-defense capabilities, needing the protection of Sentinels. A powerful Sentinel paired with a powerful Guide could become an unstoppable force in the galaxy.

Main Brain: "In this star system, there is an official organization called the Central White Tower, towering over the capital planet. Its leaders are several high-powered Guides who oversee the enrollment, pairing, work assignments, and even funerals of Sentinels and Guides. In short, all Sentinels and Guides are uniformly managed by the White Tower."

Due to their natural disadvantage in the Spirit Sea, Sentinels, despite their physical superiority, were mentally subordinate. Many Guides planted manipulative mental implants in their Sentinels' Spirit Seas, controlling their minds. Gradually, the White Tower became an organization heavily biased toward Guides.

They tacitly allowed some Guides to impose illegal mental influences on Sentinels and permitted them to manipulate the Sentinels' free will. For a Sentinel to receive mental soothing, they often had to contribute an outrageous number of points to the Tower.

"But at the same time, many Sentinels began noticing the dangers. They refused to comply with the White Tower's arrangements, were expelled, and became wanderers outside the organization."

"These Sentinels refused to open their mental domains, rejected bonds with Guides, and opposed the White Tower at every turn. They occupied many outer rim planets, raiding supplies from the central worlds to survive, and were labeled as 'Renegades.'"

"Your protagonist is one such Renegade—Qi Yi."

66: "...That sounds terrifying."

Main Brain: "He is indeed terrifying. In the later stages of the plot, he brings down the White Tower, overturns its rule, and establishes a whole new system."

66: "Then what am I?"

Main Brain: "You are a high-ranking Guide in the White Tower—Lu Liu."

66: "."

The Main Brain showed 66 its character profile: "Lu Liu is a senior Guide among the White Tower's elite, rotten to the core. Due to his high mental power, many Sentinels on the verge of collapse desperately seek his soothing. Thus, he is cold, ruthless, treats Sentinels as playthings, and cares nothing for their feelings. At the same time, he is deranged and sadistic—he plants misleading suggestions in their Spirit Seas, suppresses their minds, and gets off on their mental collapse as they dangle over the abyss of insanity."

66: "..."

It pointed at itself. "Me?"

Cold? Ruthless? Deranged? Sadistic?

Main Brain, with fake sympathy: "Yes."

66: "QAQ" [crying face]

It didn't know how to do this!

66 asked nervously: "And then?"

"What you despise the most are the Dark Sentinels who have defected from the Tower. They resist the organization and refuse to become your puppets. And on this day, you've captured one of them."

"Dark Sentinel Qi Yi, SS-rank, defected seven years ago. You're fascinated. You want to crush his Spirit Sea and make him submit to you."

66: "..."

Thanks, but no thanks.

"This time, he’s fallen into the Tower’s hands. No matter how much they torture him, Qi Yi remains silent, giving nothing away. The Tower assigns you to enter his Spirit Sea, break his will, and extract intel on the Dark Sentinels organization."

"So you torture him, creating bad blood. Then he escapes, overthrows the Tower, kills you, and your story ends."

The Main Brain quickly summarized the plot: "It’s that simple."

In short, a generic cookie-cutter villain—just a speed bump on the protagonist’s path to success, kicked aside once his role was done.

Compared to those complex, twist-filled NPCs, this character was laughably simple.

Main Brain: "And the plot isn’t long either. You only appear during the few months the protagonist is imprisoned in the Tower, with less than a year of story time. After that, you just wait around in the Tower to die."

Indeed, it was stupidly simple.

66 thought it over and decided it could accept this.

Nodding solemnly to the Main Brain, it prepared to leave.

Just before parting, the Main Brain suddenly added, "Oh, right, 66. To help you succeed in your role, aside from the previous chat group, I’ve prepared a little add-on for you."

Data streamed into 66’s mind, unlocking two new functions.

The first was the "Multi-World Connected Chat Group," neatly listing its ten unfortunate hosts.

The second was the "Deadpan Assistant System."

66: "?"

Main Brain: "Lu Liu is cold and almost never shows emotion. You're too expressive—you'll give yourself away. This plugin will force you into an expressionless state, so even if you can’t play it cool, it won’t matter."

66: "QAQ" [crying face]

The Main Brain crossed its arms in an X gesture: "For example, absolutely not like this."

66: "=.=?"

Main Brain: "That's no good either."

66: "= ="

Main Brain: "That'll have to do."

66: "..."

(it sighed) Fine.

With the two gifts from the Main Brain, he transformed into a streak of light and vanished from the Task Administration Bureau.

*

Alpha Galaxy, Central White Tower.

Lu Liu opened his eyes.

He lay on a soft, snow-white comforter, facing a curved floor-to-ceiling window. As one of the few SS-level Guides, Lu Liu occupied an entire floor of the White Tower by himself.

He slipped on his shoes, lifted an arm, then a leg, kicking lightly a couple of times, as if performing a clumsy tap-dance routine.

Lu Liu wasn’t quite accustomed to the human body yet.

But as the highest-grade AI, he naturally possessed motor functions, so within two or three minutes, he mastered his balance.

Lu Liu walked through the overly large living room and stopped in front of the bathroom.

He tilted his head, studying the mirror.

This body had a rather handsome face, somewhere between youthful and mature, with aloof, sharp features. However, with his head tilted and eyes not fully open, he looked groggy and bleary-eyed, a single stubborn cowlick sticking up on his head, making him appear a bit dopey.

Lu Liu rested his chin on his hand, deep in thought.

Hmm, it did somewhat hurt his villainous vibe.

He clicked to load the Facial Paralysis System.

The stubborn cowlick obediently lay flat, his facial muscles stiffened, and his brows turned cold and heavy, instantly giving the young man a brooding aura.

Lu Liu glanced at the mirror and felt it sold the look.

Excellent! Total bad-guy energy! He was quite satisfied!

Aside from his face feeling stiff and uncomfortable, everything was perfect!

He decided to try out the next feature.

Lu Liu closed his eyes, and in his mind appeared an app labeled "Multi-World Connected Chat Group." He tapped into it and found many people already chatting.

First host Xie Yu: "What kinda glitch is this that suddenly appeared on my phone? Can’t delete it. Did I get a virus?"

66 edited his note: "Xie Mou - Low Tier."

Second host Lin You: "It also popped up on my neural terminal. Some interstellar scam?"

66 continued editing the note: "Lin Mou - Low Tier."

Third host Bai Yu recognized them both: "Your names seem very familiar. Are you both 66’s hosts? Is this group entirely made up of 66’s hosts?"

66 further edited the note: "Bai Mou - Low Tier (high IQ, kinda passable)."

Fourth host Xiao Shao: "Hmph. These words appeared right beneath my royal decree. This thing is somewhat intriguing."

66 resentfully edited the note: "Xiao Mou - Ultra Low Tier (violent, refuses missions, made me fail, the worst)."

...

After some back-and-forth in the group, the members roughly figured out their situation. They called out their numbers and lined up, sorting out the sequence of each person’s tasks.

Xie Shu: "Though we’ve never met, I’ve long known about you guys from 66. Now that we have the chance to chat together, I feel truly stoked."

As a CEO, Xie Shu is quite adept at social interactions, though after spending so long in the cultivation world, Palace Lord Xie's speech has gotten a bit old-fashioned.

66 modifies the note: "Xie Shu (Reliable! The only top scorer in the whole place! Career-driven! The eternal legend!)"

The last host, Ye Wang, @Lu Liu: "Bro, 66 never said anything about you. Who else has it gone off to torment? Where did it snatch you from, you poor unlucky bastard?"

66: "I%￥#&￥*"

Lu Liu's face was stiff and uncomfortable, so he dropped the deadpan act, his anger making his cowlick stand on end.

He angrily modifies the note: "Ye Wang - Super low score (Trash-talks the system!)."

Just as he was about to explain in the group and counterattack Ye Wang, three knocks suddenly sounded at the door.

Lu Liu's face went blank again and he replied coolly, "Enter."

A servant in pure white robes entered the room and bowed respectfully. "Lord Lu Liu, the interrogation room is ready for you."