Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Blue 242 spoke, and only then did Su Jianglou look across.

"Who's this?"

Su Ximu introduced formally: "Third Brother, this is Group Leader Blue 242, who has been guiding me since the day I arrived. We're friends now."

Blue 242 casually extended his hand: "Mr. Su, nice to meet you."

"Friends..." Su Jianglou narrowed his eyes, his tone ambiguous. However, he ultimately said nothing more and did nothing else, merely shaking hands perfunctorily.

Then, with a sigh, he remarked: "Little Mu has only been here a few days and has already made such a good friend."

Unaware of the underlying tension between the two, Su Ximu wasn't sure how to respond and simply smiled shyly.

Before he left, Su Jianglou handed over a bag of snacks he'd brought and took a moment to observe the young man in front of him.

Whether from the physical activity or not, Little Mu’s complexion seemed to have improved since he started working his summer job a few days ago.

Nurturing a human teenager still in his growth spurt wasn't something Su Jianglou was incapable of doing, but for now, he still found the task too tedious and time-consuming.

Su Ximu accepted the snacks, thanked Third Brother, and asked politely: "Third Brother, since Big Brother is also here, should I go say hello to him?"

This was mostly a polite gesture.

Fortunately, Third Brother didn’t suggest going, simply waving over his shoulder as he turned away and saying: "He’s busy. There’s no need to see him for now."

With that, he strode away.

After exiting the cafeteria, Su Jianglou frowned, sensing an unnatural chill in the air that felt out of place.

He decided to scan the cafeteria again and, sure enough, found a timid-looking creature lurking in the corner outside the cafeteria wall, wearing a skullcap and a long gown.

Assuming it might have escaped from the Folk Park, Su Jianglou casually grabbed the old man in the skullcap and dragged him away: "Pretty strong, you actually managed to affect me earlier."

The creature, who had done nothing but hide quietly: What's going on?

***

The Real World, C City, Weird Tales State Secrets Bureau

Rao Fei, who had just emerged from an instance, after a short rest, headed to the bureau to report to the Director.

"Director, latest development: the Su Financial Group has expanded again. Among the instances known to have been incorporated is the one I just entered, 【Deep Mansion】. The others remain unknown for now."

Zhao Yanhan, seated at his desk, nodded and made a note of it.

"Also, among the four other players who entered the instance with me, I think a new player named Xu Mu shows great potential. I recommend recruiting him into the reserve team."

Zhao Yanhan nodded again: "Alright. The bureau is currently checking his background."

At this point, Rao Fei couldn’t help but express concern: "Director, have you noticed that the proportion of new players in low-level instances has been surprisingly high lately?"

"Based on this ratio, there must already be a significant number of new players whose information we don’t have. They’re scattered throughout society, posing risks. Ordinary people won’t be prepared for them, and if this continues, it’s going to cause problems, Director."

The "unstable factors" Rao Fei mentioned weren’t due to prejudice against these hidden new players but rather a hard-to-avoid reality: supernatural instances have a significant mental impact on normal people.

A single trip into an instance can sometimes turn a perfectly sane person into a mentally unstable one.

As everyone knows, mental patients sometimes harm others without control.

If these individuals were in the Bureau, the bureau could at least provide some means to stabilize their mental state, which is better than nothing. However, some people don’t fully trust the authorities and choose to hide instead.

After expressing his concerns, Rao Fei tentatively brought up something he had been thinking about for a long time: "When exactly is the bureau planning to officially announce the existence of supernatural instances to the public?"

We can’t wait until the day the supernatural world suddenly expands on a large scale, leaving ordinary people in the real world completely unprepared, just like we were back then.

Zhao Yanhan didn’t answer directly, only saying: "The detection team is still calculating the probabilities. Once the assessment is done, an announcement will be made if necessary."

At first glance, the number of supernatural instance players may seem large, but compared to the population of a country, it’s still a drop in the bucket.

For now, the prevailing opinion within the bureau is to prioritize overall stability.

Rao Fei sighed upon hearing this, rubbed his face, and dropped the subject. He then added: "One more thing: there’s a high-level creature moving between instances lately. I’ll post his characteristics on the forum later. Director, remember to tell those cocky troublemakers in the bureau who think they’re invincible that if they ever encounter him in an instance, they should avoid provoking him for no reason."

window.pubfuturetag = window.pubfuturetag || [];window.pubfuturetag.push({unit: '6909b82653c30418d8ca4f40', id: 'pf-17365-1'})

"It’s almost like a cub with its parents. I’ve seen him twice, and both times he was with different creatures, but I could tell that both times they were terrifying, each more terrifying than the last. This time, somehow, he ended up in the Deep Mansion instance, and the creature with him almost ripped out Lord Wang’s faceless creature’s heart, all while acting like he was comforting a child."

"Do we have any clues about this creature’s rules?"

Rao Fei shook his head: "Not yet. Under normal circumstances, he seems quite well-behaved, non-aggressive, and can communicate like an ordinary student. The only time he showed abnormality was when he smelled blood, but the creature with him managed to calm him down."

"As for what would happen if he couldn’t be calmed down, I have no idea."

If he had known, he might not have made it back alive.

After saying all this, Rao Fei became a bit boastful and started recommending himself: "Otherwise, next time we enter an instance, I’ll go with Director Lin. I still have this creature’s contact information from the Gardener instance. If Director Lin and I ever find ourselves cornered in an instance, I’ll try to see if we can communicate between instances. Maybe we can call the creature over."

Upon hearing this, Zhao Yanhan’s expression turned serious, but he made a deadpan joke: "And then let that creature kill all the players and creatures in the instance?"

Rao Fei shrugged: "Well, at least I’d take down an instance boss before dying."

Zhao Yanhan didn’t indulge his nonsense and, seeing that Rao Fei had nothing else to report, waved him off: "If you really want to go, call Wang Xingxing later."

Rao Fei stood up: "Wang Xingxing is with Director Lin? What are they doing?"

Zhao Yanhan: "Practicing dancing, singing, rap, composition, and personal image management."

This was news he’d heard from Writer Ghost. The supernatural world had recently opened a new super-large instance. Based on the timing of entry, Lin Lan had a certain probability of entering this instance.

The instance is temporarily named: "Ghost 101"

***

The time calculation in the supernatural world is different from that in the real world.

When Su Ximu arrived, he was still attending classes at school, but the "original" in this world was on summer break.

He wasn’t entirely sure whether time in this world moved faster or slower than in his original world.

He could only count slowly in his heart: one day, two days, three days...

Before he knew it, he had been in this world for many days and had been working at the Tourism Park for almost a week.

The reform of the Tourism Park was progressing slowly. The day after the Folk Custom Park instance was cleared, the appointment notice from the Director's office was issued.

A bottom-level employee with the serial number Gray 6382 became the object of envy and jealousy among all the park employees.

According to statistics, his contribution score in the Ma Family Compound ranked first, and he skyrocketed to become part of the park’s management, overseeing an entire mansion.

However, none of this had much to do with Su Ximu. As a bystander, he had a contribution score in the Wang Family Compound, but it wasn’t high.

The employee with the highest contribution in the Tourism Park is Green 132—the odd one who had given half a mushroom to Su Ximu.

Since the appointment was announced, his mental state clearly became more stable. He even moved his bed of humus soil to Lord Wang’s room in the Wang Family Compound overnight.

Another morning came. Su Ximu opened his eyes and sat up in his dormitory bed.

The first thought that crossed his mind after waking was: today he wanted cake.

Having never had expensive hobbies since childhood, he had only one habit—on a few specific days each year, he would crave cake.

Whether it was a large cake or a small one the size of his palm, he'd get the same craving.

Over the years, this habit had become more punctual than a calendar.

Today was no exception.

But as soon as the thought of eating cake crossed his mind, the young man, still sitting dazedly on the bed, ran into a problem.

Since arriving in this world, aside from Wealth Avenue where the Su Family Villa was located and the Tourism Park where he worked, he had never been anywhere else.

He remembered the locations of dessert shops, but they were all pretty far.

He also had no money for transportation...

Wait.

That’s right—he did have money for transportation. His elder brother had given him some pocket money.

With a solution in mind, Su Ximu immediately got up, rubbed his eyes, and walked over to his suitcase. He crouched down, rummaged through a hidden compartment, and pulled out a brand-new 100-yuan bill.

Even after deducting the bus fare both ways, the remaining money would surely be enough to buy a cake.

No longer troubled, the young man smiled slightly, revealing the small dimples on his cheeks, and carefully tucked the 100-yuan bill into the pocket of the clothes he planned to wear outside.

However, before he could wait until after work to take his 100 yuan and buy a cake, Group Leader Lan242 came by at lunchtime. He walked into the cafeteria carrying a fancy-looking cake and invited Su Ximu to share it with him.

Su Ximu thought it was pretty weird. Did Group Leader Lan242 also happen to crave cake today, just like him?

Or was it Group Leader Lan242’s birthday today?

Blue 242 opened the cake box and, upon hearing the young man’s question, shook his head. “It’s not my birthday today—it’s my younger brother’s.”

Su Ximu blinked, not quite understanding.

If it was Group Leader Lan242’s brother’s birthday, why was he sharing the cake with Group Leader Lan242?

Where was Group Leader Lan242’s brother?

“He doesn’t like cake, so I brought it with me,” Blue 242 said casually as he stuck a few candles into the cake.

Then he took out his phone and hung up a constantly ringing call.

“Come on, let’s blow out the candles for him together—let's pretend we're celebrating his birthday.”

Author’s Note:

Third Brother: Thanks, but no thanks. Hard pass.