Chapter 40: Player

Just as Yuan Zhixia had anticipated, within a matter of minutes a group of people in crisp black suits arrived at the scene together with the police.

The officers skillfully strung up cordon tape and evacuated the crowd under the pretext of a gas leak.

Several of the black-suited personnel vanished into thin air, as if they had entered the Shadow Realm.

When they reappeared, they were already carrying a large pile of human-shaped silk cocoons, and they laid the unconscious people inside onto stretchers.

"You guys are employing child labor?"

Yuan Zhixia sat in a chair, arms folded across her chest, watching everything with an easy air and commenting casually.

Beside the stretchers stood a little boy of about eleven or twelve, also wearing a black suit. With his bandaged, faintly glowing palm, he brushed it across the patients' faces, and the unconscious people's complexions immediately improved considerably.

"His name is Su Jie. He's a specially appointed medical practitioner of the Special Affairs Bureau. He doesn't count as child labor."

A man in a suit said with a wry smile, "Let me introduce myself. I'm Xu Yongyan, squad leader of the Second Squad, Third Mobile Tactical Unit of the Special Affairs Bureau of Yin City."

"Understood, Captain Xu."

Yuan Zhixia nodded. "Since you've seen what the Shadow Realm looks like, you should know we're not the bad guys among the crowd. Even though we ourselves were in danger, we still helped stop an anomalous incident from breaking out and protected innocent bystanders."

"We understand that." Xu Yongyan said, "Don't worry. The Special Affairs Bureau is an official organization with complete laws, regulations, and rules. It won't let a bad person off, and it won't wrong a good person.

In any case, someone will handle the situation in the mall. This isn't the place to talk. Please get in the car first. I'll take you to the Yin City Special Affairs Bureau. Someone wants to see you."

"Who?"

"The Heavenly Eye system of the Special Affairs Bureau—to be precise, the Heavenly Eye itself."

————

【Origin Link System debugging complete. System template officially online. Summonees may query basic information.】

Inside the Shadow Realm, Li Cheng—who was hitching a ride toward the school—heard once again the voice that rang out directly in his mind.

He paused for a moment, and while splitting off part of his attention to watch the vehicle's direction and switching rides, he silently asked the voice a question in his heart.

"What is a Summonee?"

【Current permissions insufficient. Cannot query related information.】

"What is a Killing Ground? Who founded the Killing Ground?"

【Current permissions insufficient. Cannot query related information.】

It can't even answer this question?

Li Cheng's brow furrowed slightly. The player forum already had a clearly organized Q&A compilation answering many questions, yet the Killing Ground system itself was being evasive.

Either it's a semi-finished product, or it's hiding some key information.

He thought for a moment and changed his approach. "How do I raise my permissions?"

【Raise the Summonee level to maximum. The highest currently attainable level is Lv40.】

"Currently? You mean Lv40 isn't the endpoint, and it can be raised further in the future? Wait—could it be that there used to be similar level-cap settings before? Like Lv20, Lv30, and so on. Similar to a major version update in an online game, giving later players a chance to catch up."

【Current permissions insufficient. Cannot query related information.】

Here we go again. Li Cheng's eye twitched. He simply asked, "Tell me the basic information currently available for query."

【Summonees may now open the system panel. The panel is divided into eight modules: Player Info, Attributes, Items, Equipment, Skills, Inventory, Quest Log, and Shangcheng.】

【Summonees may use the system panel to log into a physical Killing Ground. First-time login will default to a safe zone.】

【Log in?】

【Yes / No】

Subtitles resembling a holographic projection appeared before Li Cheng's eyes. No matter where he shifted his gaze, defocused his eyes, or closed them, he could still see the line of text.

As if it were projected directly into his brain.

After a moment's thought, Li Cheng focused his consciousness, selected the negative option, and dismissed the subtitles before his eyes.

The newly launched Summonee system wasn't something he could figure out in a short time. He'd get through the situation in front of him first.

He maintained the Shadow Realm and raced back to the school at full speed. When he stepped onto campus, the bell for the upcoming class had just rung. Fortunately, he wasn't too late.

He tidied his attire slightly, brushed his hair down to cover the wound on his forehead, and walked out of the restroom in the administration building.

Earlier, during lunch break, he had washed the nosebleed in the administration building restroom. This one was far more upscale than the teaching building's—spacious, with patterned tiles, no main ceiling light, and the high-end odor-removing fragrance and hand soap used by star-rated hotels.

That was why students always came to the administration building to use the restroom.

He returned to the classroom. The first period in the afternoon was homeroom teacher Yang Hui's Chinese class. Ye Jiaying's deskmate raised her hand and said, "Teacher, Ye Jiaying hasn't arrived yet."

"Mm, I know. Her family just called and said she isn't feeling well, so she went home first."

Yang Hui said offhandedly, opened the textbook, and began the lesson.

Li Cheng thought to himself that it was just as he'd expected, and felt somewhat reassured.

Earlier, in the Longheng Mall, because the Ink-Color Spider had died, the Shadow Realm it maintained gradually collapsed. Li Cheng continued to maintain the Shadow Realm, drew all the small spider monsters into it, and "kicked" Ye Jiaying, Yuan Zhixia, and Yang Ling out—achieving the effect of their being removed from the Shadow Realm.

And once they returned to the real world, they would certainly be discovered by the Special Affairs Bureau. And because, objectively speaking, they had helped kill the Ink-Color Spider and resolved an anomalous incident, the Special Affairs Bureau wouldn't make things difficult for them. On the contrary, it would help cover up the fact that they had missed class.

As for whether Yang Ling could turn back into a human and return to a normal life, that was up to the Special Affairs Bureau.

After one Chinese class ended, Yang Hui packed up her teaching materials and called Li Cheng by name alone. "Li Cheng, come to my office."

"Oh, alright."

Under the sympathetic looks of Han Letian and Mu Yulu that said "Bro, you're in trouble," Li Cheng walked out of the classroom, followed Yang Hui to the homeroom teacher's office, and stood obediently beside the desk.

"You've changed seats recently. Has it affected you?" Yang Hui asked amiably.

Just this? Li Cheng answered honestly, "No effect."

Anyway, his original seatmate Han Letian was sitting right behind him, so during breaks they still chatted and joked around as usual.

"That's good." Yang Hui nodded and said earnestly, "Your exam scores have been slipping lately. You need to watch out. You're in your second year of senior high now, and the college entrance exam isn't far off. Take this chance to push hard and pull your grades up."

Facing the homeroom teacher's earnest guidance, Li Cheng nodded like a pestle pounding garlic, and the corner of his gaze inadvertently swept across the desk, lingering briefly on a photograph.

That photograph was set in a frame, capturing a scene from several years earlier: Yang Hui, in front of a Disneyland park, holding Yang Ling—who had her hair in two little braids. Mother and daughter smiled happily.

At that time, Teacher Yang's husband had not yet passed away. This photo must have been taken by him.

The reason she put this photo on the table instead of a family portrait was probably because Yang Hui was afraid that seeing a family portrait would remind her of her husband and bring on a wave of sorrow.

Yang Hui noticed Li Cheng's gaze and looked at the photo as well — from her angle, she couldn't see Yang Ling; on the photo there was only her, all alone.

"Hmm?"

Yang Hui's expression was puzzled; she too couldn't quite remember why she had put a single-person photo on the table.

Forget it, never mind.

She waved her hand, telling Li Cheng to head back to the classroom first, while she herself casually picked up the frame. Just as she was about to toss it into the very bottom of the drawer, she paused for some unknown reason, and still placed the photo back on the table. It looked more pleasing to the eye that way.

(End of Chapter)