Chapter 61: Signing Off! (Revision)

After being brushed off by Bai Mu Yun with a few words to investigate that so‑called colleague, Ying Duo stood alone in the back alley of the Dream Illusion Bar.

He patted his empty pocket, then recalled Bai Mu Yun's "I'm busy, don't bother me" expression.

No money, yet you want the horse to run?

Upholding the principle that a player never takes a loss, Ying Duo turned and went back into a private room of the bar.

Facing his return, Bai Mu Yun seemed a bit surprised, but mostly impatient.

Ying Duo said little, simply extending an open palm and silently staring at Bai Mu Yun with those hollow golden eyes.

"What now?" Bai Mu Yun frowned.

"Mission funds," Ying Duo replied concisely.

"Investigation needs some money."

Bai Mu Yun laughed in irritation, "You think I'm an ATM?"

Ying Duo gave a well‑founded, clear argument: "You slack, I run errands—reasonable labor compensation."

In the end, as Bai Mu Yun's disdain solidified, Ying Duo managed to snatch a stack of cash from him— not much, about two thousand yuan.

A conversation is better than nothing, at least it's stronger than none.

Following the possible mission location of that colleague that Bai Mu Yun gave, Ying Duo leisurely made his way over.

By the time he arrived, the scene had been cleaned spotless, not a trace of battle left, only a few people in Supervision Bureau uniforms conducting final patrols and lockdowns.

Ying Duo activated the Reconnaissance skill; a faint glow appeared in his vision, but the returned data stream was blank.

All possible lingering energy traces had dissipated over time, or been completely erased by the Church's professional methods.

Sure enough, they were late.

Or rather, that Bai Mu Yun fellow may have known this outcome all along, deliberately letting him run a token scene, just for show?

Having figured that out, Ying Duo simply chose to slack off.

When he returned to the Dream Illusion Bar, sure enough, Bai Mu Yun had vanished without a trace, leaving no message.

Fine, you slack, I'll slack too.

Not even a side‑quest format, no Easter egg hidden—who would waste time with you here?

In the following days, Ying Duo perfectly embodied the word "slacking."

He used that two‑thousand‑plus yuan to book a room at a nearby inn, then stayed cooped up inside, never stepping out.

He spread out the junk parts he scavenged from the Dream Illusion Bar's basement, plus various broken components he'd casually grabbed in Zone Eight, and began frantically grinding the Modification skill.

【Modification failed! Material loss! Modification proficiency +17!】

【Successfully crafted 【Inferior Energy Conductor】! Modification proficiency +10!】

【Modification LV. 2→LV. 3!】

The room intermittently echoed with faint clatters of parts, the hum of energy welding, and the system's cold notification tones.

Ying Duo turned piles of trash into all sorts of bizarre, function‑unknown "creations," most bearing the signature Ying Guang Lu energy trace.

Time slipped by in this monotonous "grind‑grind‑grind" until the seventh in‑game day.

When the in‑game clock jumped to 23:59 on the seventh day, the precise moment it turned to 00:00.

The screen suddenly went black.

Not the black of character death or a scene transition, but the entire game interface vanished instantly, force‑kicked back to the phone's home screen.

"Hm?"

Yang Yixie, who was controlling Ying Duo and trying to force‑weld two energy cells together, was stunned.

Then a simply designed yet unmistakably authoritative popup sprang up, occupying the whole screen:

【Notice:

Dear player:

You have experienced all the currently available content; the remaining storyline and features will fully unlock in 【2 hours 14 minutes】.

Stay tuned.】

Yang Yixie stared at the popup, blinked, still his first time encountering this.

However, given the content the game currently offers, its playability is indeed high, and it's only a beta, still in development.

He glanced at the real‑time on his phone: 9:46 PM.

In about two‑plus hours he could log in again, but that would be almost dawn.

"Fine, I'll just stream the game for a bit, then sleep."

He muttered that he still had to go to the market tomorrow morning for groceries, so he couldn't stay up too late.

So he tossed his phone aside to charge, turned on his computer and streaming gear, skillfully logged into the streaming platform, and started the game broadcast.

Because he hadn't streamed in a long time, the room was sparsely populated—some old fans, others just passing by.

He deftly sent out a few gift red packets to attract viewers, watching as the audience quickly poured in and the chat scrolled.

Yang Yixie put on his headphones, fully immersing his attention in the intense game.

He excels at this kind of FPS, with top‑tier awareness, aim, and reaction.

This final‑round match was unusually tense, set in a rugged mountainous jungle.

Only four teams, eight players, remained alive.

Yang Yixie's character crouched in grass on a reverse slope, holding his breath, every slightest rustle in the headphones crystal clear.

"One behind the tree on the right, heard a reload sound."

"A squad of two behind the rocks on the left slope."

"The last lone wolf's position unknown, might be behind us planting poison..."

He spoke at breakneck speed, analyzing the situation for the viewers, his voice calm.

The danger zone refreshed again; he had to move, and just as he stood up to use a Smoke Bomb to relocate, gunfire erupted from the flank.

Tap tap tap!

The bullet skimmed past his body, and his health bar dropped by half in an instant.

It's that lone wolf! He's been crawling in the very close grass!

At the split‑second of a thousand‑pound hair, Yang Yixie, relying almost on muscle memory, crouched with an extreme Buddha‑Devotion Gun Technique while waist‑shooting a counterattack; the camera shook violently, and the bullet sprayed precisely toward the source of the gunfire!

You killed Tomato‑fried Mooncake with an M416 assault rifle.

Damn! That reaction!

The streamer is awesome!!

The barrage exploded instantly.

Before he could catch his breath, the squad behind the stone seized the chance and pressed forward.

Yang Yixie unhesitatingly used his last two Smoke Bombs to block one side of vision, quickly used med, and rapidly calculated the remaining bullets and throwables in his mind.

Can only go all out.

The med was just used, and he immediately stood up, using the edge of the smoke for cover, and threw a pre‑emptive grenade precisely toward the area behind the stone.

Boom!

Knockdown prompt pops up!

At the same time he flashed out of the smoke, pre‑emptively sweeping fire at another exposed enemy.

Winner winner chicken dinner!

Watching the victory icon and results screen pop up on the monitor, Yang Yixie finally let out a long sigh, feeling a bit exhausted.

That recent maneuver required intense focus and lightning‑fast reaction; not a hint of distraction was allowed.

He glanced at the time; it was already 12:14 AM.

The feel was good today, I'm signing off first! Brothers, get some rest early!

He cleanly said a few words to the viewers, then closed the live stream.

Just after taking off his headphones and rubbing his slightly swollen temples, the phone on the desk suddenly vibrated, the screen lit up, showing the caller — "Brother".

Yang Yixie was a bit puzzled; his brother was a very busy man, why would he call at such a late hour?

"Hello, brother? It's so late, what's up?" he said as he answered the call, yawning.

On the other end, his brother Yang Yichen's voice came through, sounding a bit different from usual, bearing a deliberately restrained calm and a barely perceptible urgency.

"Not asleep yet? What are you doing?"