Chapter 67

Chapter 67

When Su Jianglou was first kicked, he was momentarily stunned and annoyed, but not overly so.

For a powerful anomaly like him, a simple physical assault couldn't inflict much harm or pain.

Even if he were to lose a limb instantly, for Su Jianglou, it would be an injury that could be healed in the blink of an eye. In fact, such minor damage wouldn't even qualify as an injury to him.

But now, before his body had even fully landed, he was sent flying again with another kick, and Su Jianglou sensed something was amiss.

Hovering mid-air, he looked down at his abdomen, where a black mist coiled around the distinct imprint of a leather shoe.

At that moment, Su Jianglou's rage ignited.

"You're hitting me just because you feel like it, Big Brother? You're actually hitting me!" With a flash of golden light in his eyes, Su Jianglou spun around, ready to retaliate.

However, the instant he turned, a red light flashed.

Su Jianglou felt a heavy blow land squarely on his back.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

In a matter of seconds, Su Jianglou was propelled back and forth in mid-air, becoming little more than a blur.

Finally, on the seventh pass, Su Jianglou's dark golden eyes practically blazed with fury. Seizing his chance, he used the momentum to charge at Second Brother, adopting an all-or-nothing stance.

As for why he didn't go after Big Brother, who had struck him first, the reason was simple: Big Brother was still inside the villa. If the villa collapsed, burying Big Brother wouldn't be a major concern, but Xiao Xi was still at home.

He knew his strength was slightly inferior to both Big Brother and Second Brother, making a suicidal attack unlikely to succeed, but he simply couldn't swallow this insult!

Who had he provoked?

Hadn't he informed them before entering the instance?

And now, fresh out of the instance, Big Brother and Second Brother were treating him like this.

"I just came out of the instance and haven't even recovered, and you two are ganging up on me. If you want to split up, just say so! I'll take Xi Bao and leave tomorrow!" Su Jianglou had already reached Su Juzi and furiously threw a punch.

Just as his fist was about to connect with Su Juzi, it seemed to pass through empty space.

The eerie man standing there dissolved into a thin mist and reappeared a dozen meters away.

This act, which could only be interpreted as a blatant provocation, added fuel to the fire, making Su Jianglou's rage burn even more intensely.

He laughed bitterly in his extreme anger, closed his eyes, and decided to summon all the instances he controlled in the Five Cities of the Abyss to crush him!

But before that, out of consideration for their years of brotherhood, he decided to give Big Brother and Second Brother one last chance to explain themselves.

Due to his emotional turmoil, Su Jianglou's facial features once again blurred into a mass of gray mist. His voice boomed from an unknown direction, reverberating across the entire villa area and startling the minor anomalies below into a chorus of cries.

Su Xuanxiao had also emerged from his room by then and stood beside Su Juzi.

Su Jianglou: "I'm giving you one last chance to explain. Tell me! Why did you hit me?"

Su Juzi, ever compliant, calmly explained, "Because after you entered the instance world, Xiao Xi was inadvertently pulled in with you."

Su Jianglou froze, his towering rage instantly deflating with a soft pop.

"After Xiao Xi entered the instance, I investigated and found that he was pulled in because you took a piece of paper he had just written on when you entered my instance."

The golden light in Su Jianglou's eyes began to dim.

"After coming out of the instance, Xiao Xi woke up a full day earlier than you and Big Brother. Because of the instance, he has now recalled his childhood experiences."

Su Jianglou looked up, the golden light in his eyes flickering slightly brighter.

"Then he returned home and found a piece of paper in his room. It was the family rules Third Brother had prepared for him…"

Su Jianglou: …

His towering rage was completely extinguished, not even a flicker of a flame remaining. The light in his eyes dimmed as he slowly descended to the lawn, leaning against a large tree in despair and squatting down.

Only two sentences repeated endlessly in his mind:

He had dragged Xi Bao into the instance, he had dragged Xi Bao into the instance…

Xi Bao knows, Xi Bao knows, Xi Bao knows…

After leaning against the tree, lost in thought for a long time, Su Jianglou finally spoke again, "So, does Xi Bao know he was in my instance?"

The original host Su Ximu, including his memories, and the so-called hangover—all of it was a fabrication, designed to deceive a child.

Su Juzi stood by the tree and gave a slight nod.

That tiny, almost imperceptible gesture was enough to drain all the strength from Su Jianglou, who had been ready to "take each other out" with Second Brother just moments before.

His eyes filled with despair as he glanced toward the villa in the distance, then looked up at the stars in the sky.

All at once, his eyes grew red for the first time.

"Xi Bao is definitely going to be angry. He’s going to hate me," Su Jianglou muttered to himself, sitting on the ground, while unconsciously digging his right fingers into his left arm.

In no time, his left arm was covered in bloody scratches.

A youth shrouded in a faint red mist quietly stepped out from behind the rockery: ?

He approached cautiously and soon noticed Third Brother’s self-inflicted wounds.

Having just stepped out of the house and missed the earlier, more intense confrontation, Su Ximu frowned, squatted down, and spoke in a somewhat serious tone, "Third Brother, if you keep scratching like that, I’m really going to get angry!"

Su Jianglou, who hadn’t sensed anyone or anything approaching, jerked his head up.

Su Ximu reached out and gently lifted Third Brother’s injured arm.

He had no medicine with him, so he could only gently blow on the wounds for now.

As he blew, Su Ximu carefully examined the injuries—each cut was deep.

Back when he was human, Third Brother would cry loudly over a mere arm injury. How come now, as an anomaly, he was actively hurting himself?

He felt he needed to criticize Third Brother for this.

Seriously criticize!

The youth’s expression was stern, and he was about to continue speaking when he suddenly turned his head and sneezed.

***

Aqua Blue Star, Real World

Weird Tales State Secrets Bureau, C City Branch

Wu Yang sat in the interrogation room of the Weird Tales State Secrets Bureau, asking excitedly, "Any news?"

Liu Jiang, the deputy team leader of Action Team C in the Weird Tales State Secrets Bureau's C City branch, was no stranger to dealing with Wu Yang.

Last time, when Wu Yang’s school suddenly announced an extended break for students, Wu Yang, after consulting his youngest roommate Su Ximu and realizing something was off, called Liu Jiang to confirm.

Going further back, Wu Yang and Su Ximu once accidentally witnessed a player vanish into thin air, and both were brought to the Weird Tales State Secrets Bureau by Liu Jiang to sign confidentiality agreements.

That time, the mysterious department’s efficient way of having him and the youngest sign confidentiality agreements clearly indicated it wasn’t their first time dealing with such matters.

Wu Yang contacted Liu Jiang without any trouble, and at the time, Liu Jiang even had all the members of their dormitory 301 come to the State Secrets Bureau to sign another confidentiality agreement.

Additionally, they also documented the situation of his youngest roommate, Su Ximu.

Now, over a month had passed in what seemed like no time. Wu Yang had been waiting at home every day for news and finally received a notice from Liu Jiang today, asking him to come to the State Secrets Bureau again.

When Wu Yang got the call, he was still lying in bed. He left in such a rush that he forgot to change his shoes. Now, sitting in the interrogation room of the Weird Tales State Secrets Bureau, he was still wearing his big slippers.

Under Wu Yang’s hopeful gaze, Liu Jiang shook his head.

Seeing this, Wu Yang's hope deflated, and he slumped back against the sofa with a weary, exhausted tone. "No news? Then why did you call me here?"

Liu Jiang, a rough-looking, burly man with a buzz cut, remained professional, holding a notepad as he spoke. "While going through case files at the bureau the other day, I noticed that the characteristics of a person in one file closely resemble those of your classmate Su Ximu."

It sounded crazy, but the informant for that file was Rao Fei, and according to the records, it described a mysterious entity with unknown strength and personality, leaning toward a chaotic alignment (a gaming term).

Rao Fei wasn't much of an artist, so when the State Secrets Bureau created the file, they had to rely on a specialist to sketch the entity based on Rao Fei’s description.

As Liu Jiang spoke, he recalled the morning.

At the time, he was studying in the archives for professional development. Due to his high security clearance, he happened to come across this particular case file.

And then!

He made an utterly bizarre discovery.

The entity described by Rao Fei looked at least 80% similar to the Su classmate he had met before!

And this was despite the portrait being based on Rao Fei’s oral description, which likely had some degree of inaccuracy!

Liu Jiang remembered that the Su classmate had been reported missing by his roommate over a month ago and was subsequently categorized by the State Secrets Bureau under the category for missing players.

If this had happened ten years ago, the bureau might have investigated such missing cases more thoroughly. But in recent years, the number of missing player cases had increased dramatically, with some players not even having their names recorded in the bureau’s files.

Now, with this bizarre discovery, Liu Jiang speculated that the most likely explanation was that the Su classmate had become trapped in an instance (likely a game dungeon).

Then, perhaps some entity took a liking to his appearance—either borrowing it directly or using it to create a custom human skin (a supernatural concept)—effectively claiming the Su classmate’s likeness as its own.

Still, speculation was just speculation. To be thorough, he called Wu Yang back to the bureau to inquire further about the Su classmate’s specific characteristics.

In the interrogation room, as Liu Jiang asked questions one after another, Wu Yang was getting more and more frustrated, scratching his head in confusion.

"Parents? The youngest doesn’t seem to have parents. I’ve rarely seen him call his parents, and he came to university alone. When he talks about family, it’s usually his grandmother or his cousin."

"Favorite food? He doesn’t seem particularly picky."

"Does he like to laugh? Well... he laughs easily. Wait, what kind of questions are these? How is this helpful for finding him?"

"What color clothes does he usually wear? Anything, I guess. He probably prefers light colors, but he mostly buys dark ones—maybe because they’re more durable. Ah, the kid has it rough."

"Does he snore when he sleeps? No."

"Does he talk in his sleep? I’m not listening by his bedside at night!"

"Hmm... probably not."

"Body measurements? I’m not a pervert! How would I know?"

"Sexual orientation?!"

"......"

"Get the hell out of here!!"

"Are you guys at the State Secrets Bureau just messing with me?"