Chapter 961: Weekend (Bonus for Top Monthly Votes)

Dechuang Garden, Room 2303.

Jianna accompanied “Luo Fu” as she watched TV in the living room, occasionally scrolling through her phone; the two spoke little.

Suddenly, she noticed “Luo Fu” turned her body, eyes gleaming, and said:

“I’m back!”

Jianna did not respond immediately, because “Luo Fu” resembled Franca in personality.

Franca immediately picked up her phone and said to Jianna:

“Hurry, hurry, send me another copy of the ‘Information Shredder’.”

Hearing “Information Shredder,” Jianna finally confirmed it was truly Franca returned.

At that moment, Franca unlocked her screen and found WeChat had been reinstalled by “Luo Fu,” and she had re-added Jianna, Luo Shan, and several staff from the Administration Department—but not “Dummy,” “Anreid,” or “Li Lu.”

After glancing at it, Franca quickly opened WeChat Wallet.

Her expression froze instantly:

“Money—my money… gone!”

Jianna’s pupils dilated; she hurried over and saw Franca’s WeChat Wallet balance was “0.00 yuan.”

“Did it delete all my phone data—including the money in my online wallet?” Franca frantically reinstalled a banking app, spent considerable time logging in, and checked her balance.

She exhaled deeply, patted her chest, and said:

“Good, good—the main amount’s still there. Scared me to death.”

After her sigh, she explained to Jianna:

“The money in my bank card is still there!”

Jianna glanced at Franca’s bank balance and asked thoughtfully:

“How much did you originally have in your WeChat Wallet?”

“One hundred and thirty-eight yuan,” Franca answered smoothly. “And over three hundred in Alipay.”

The Alipay app had already been reinstalled by “Luo Fu”; she opened it and found over a hundred yuan remaining.

“Hmm…” Franca reviewed her transaction history and confirmed this hundred-plus was transferred from her bank card by “Luo Fu” after the fact—she’d spent some on takeout—but the original three hundred had vanished without trace.

Jianna chuckled, pressing her chest:

“You acted like you lost over a hundred thousand—just five hundred yuan gone, and you nearly gave me a heart attack.”

The sixty thousand earned from selling items was currently held by Jianna; she had transferred half to Lu Mi and Anthony.

“Don’t say unlucky things—five hundred yuan is a lot! Enough to buy tons at the wholesale market!” Franca mused. “I need to transfer some to Lu Mi and Anthony—we should each hold a portion, so if everything gets wiped at once, I’ve realized—it’s like a game: getting kicked out of the dream might drop gear and cash, and you might not even recover it. Yeah, don’t put all your eggs in one basket.”

“The bank card money’s still there, but the phone money’s gone?” Jianna mused. “Because you only cleared your phone data, not your bank card info? The lost money must be due to the ‘Information Shredder.’”

Franca nodded slowly:

“This little program is incredibly powerful—I suspect it deleted corresponding server data and backups too. Only then could it handle mystical photos without leaving chat logs traceable…”

Here, Franca frowned slightly:

“I asked the ‘Magician’ and the ‘Judgment’ ladies—they know every senior member of the Steam Church, but none is named Stiano.”

“Anthony’s feeling must’ve been right—Stiano must be closely tied to the Steam Church,” Jianna said, also looking puzzled.

“They seem to have suspects—they’ll confirm and tell us through Star Dream Grocery,” Franca suddenly glanced around, pointed at the ceiling, and whispered, “Could it be Him? Only He could create a program this powerful—and only He can enter with true consciousness.”

“Perhaps…” Jianna’s voice grew low.

As a native of Trier, she had been raised with religious education and still held deep reverence for deities.

She now wondered if she might one day encounter her former faith’s “Eternal Sun” within this dream city.

And if the “Eternal Sun” entered, what form would His dream counterpart take?

In brief silence, Franca re-added Lu Mi and the others, then distributed the assets—she and Jianna kept 90,000; Lu Mi and Anthony each took 90,000.

Then she and Jianna discussed her sensations upon being kicked out of the dream and the details she’d noticed upon returning to reality.

She did not send all this as a message to Lu Mi; she planned to meet him tomorrow in person.

She feared sensitive information might trigger an anomaly before she could delete it with the “Information Shredder.”

The “Judgment” lady had told her to be cautious and stay low these days!

As they chatted past midnight, Franca stretched:

“Thank goodness ‘Luo Fu’ didn’t splurge—otherwise I’d be heartbroken.”

“Alright, let’s wash up and sleep—we have to wake up early for work tomorrow. Oh, check if Hol Film Company is hiring—apply, it’s your field!”

Jianna’s lips curled into a smile:

“You forgot tomorrow’s Sunday, didn’t you?”

“Oh right.” Franca paused. “Going back and forth between dream and reality has scrambled my head. ‘Luo Fu’ was supposed to rest today, but the corporation had a VIP with urgent business, so she worked overtime… Hmm, tomorrow I have to take Ludwig to tutoring again.”

…………

Xinhong Community, rental apartment.

Lu Mi did not supervise Ludwig’s studies; after receiving Franca’s transfer, he deleted the transaction record and resumed searching keywords like “Indus Group” and “VIP.”

“What are you looking up? Need help?” asked Anthony from beside the desk.

“Not yet,” Lu Mi replied without looking up. “I’m gathering info on Zarathustra—but I can’t search his name directly.”

Before Anthony could ask further, he added:

“I want to know which hotel Zarathustra is staying at and his recent schedule.”

“You’re planning…” Anthony instantly grasped Lu Mi’s intent.

Lu Mi lifted his head, flashing a bright smile:

“Yes. Kill him.”

“There’s no reason we should always be reacting to the Heavenly Lord’s underlings. We can be proactive—infiltrate, assassinate, eliminate—remove threats before they emerge.”

“We’re all Rank 7 now—there’s a chance to win. From our battle with the resurrected corpse, we learned: as long as the enemy doesn’t escape, isn’t recorded by surveillance, and has no witnesses, the Heavenly Lord can’t track us.”

Anthony nodded, acknowledging Lu Mi’s logic was sound.

He merely warned:

“Even suppressed to Rank 7, his essence remains an Angel—he must possess mysterious, unique, bizarre abilities, and excels at using proxies. He won’t be easy to kill, and he may have other Heavenly Lord agents nearby.”

“I know,” Lu Mi smiled and nodded. “Even reduced to Rank 7, Zarathustra’s supernatural abilities will still be bizarre and terrifying—we must account for them before acting.”

After gathering Zarathustra’s intelligence, Lu Mi deleted his search history with the “Information Shredder,” then organized the data on paper and in his mind.

After reviewing the compiled information repeatedly, he planned to scout the location after accompanying Ludwig to tutoring tomorrow.

For the rest of the time, he took out the new ice board and examined, for perhaps the nth time, the information of each dream figure and his team’s initial observations and interactions with them.

…………

The next day, Dream Tutoring Center.

Lu Mi escorted the slow-moving Ludwig to the entrance of the Beginner English class.

Anderson glanced at him and greeted:

“Want to join the beginner class too?”

“No, I’d rather learn drawing,” Lu Mi replied briefly, nudging Ludwig toward Anderson.

Anderson said nothing more, pulled Ludwig inside, and returned to the classroom.

Lu Mi sat across, patiently waiting as before.

Soon, he saw Zhou Mingrui again.

Zhou Mingrui wore a white T-shirt with a pattern—looking far more youthful and vibrant than during work hours.

Zhou Mingrui wasn’t surprised to see him here—he’d expected it, gave a slight nod, and acknowledged him.

Lu Mi offered no small talk, only a polite response.

More contact, less proximity—to lower the target’s vigilance!

Moreover, Franca’s probe the previous night worked well—she successfully made Zhou Mingrui wary of the “Assassin” drink. Now he needed time to digest such a massive revelation.

From this perspective, Franca’s expulsion from the dream was worthwhile.

Watching Zhou Mingrui turn into the classroom, Lu Mi lowered his gaze and played with his phone.

At that moment, he suddenly sensed something, lifted his head, and looked toward the tutoring center’s front desk.

He saw Aina, the principal, dressed in a white long dress, accompanying an elderly man inside.

Behind them were several Dream Tutoring Center staff and unfamiliar faces Lu Mi had never seen.

Lu Mi’s gaze fixed on the old man: he wore a black suit, his hair was entirely white, his beard long and thick, his blue eyes deep as if devoid of light.

Lu Mi’s eyes narrowed slightly—he had seen this man’s portrait:

Zarathustra!

He’s back at Dream Tutoring Center? Lu Mi quietly stood and, like other parents, stepped back to avoid the group.

Aina led Zarathustra to the entrance of the Business English class and explained the situation.

Zarathustra’s gaze swept over the students.

At that moment, Lu Mi had retreated deep into the corridor, standing beside the fire alarm, glancing up at the surveillance camera covering the area.

He watched Zarathustra with his peripheral vision—if the man made any move or tried to speak to Zhou Mingrui, Lu Mi would first smash the camera from the blind spot, then punch the fire alarm to create chaos and force everyone to rush outside.

In the process, he would play the role of a panicked parent, constantly blocking Zarathustra’s movements with Ludwig.

PS: Third update—August’s top vote bonus. Requesting base monthly votes~

(End of chapter)