These two people stood in front of some greenery in the amusement park, being vigilant about any movements around them while chatting casually.
The man with golden shoulder-length hair was handsome, with a slightly nonchalant smile hanging on the corner of his mouth. He seemed to be leaning against a tree casually, but there were no blind spots around him that could be attacked.
Hearing the other person’s question, he also glanced towards the Ferris wheel, “Yeah, it’s him.”
“He looks like a pampered son from some noble family, what did he do?” The other man was over two meters tall, burly and muscular, with an ancient bronze-colored skin and large muscle blocks that looked very intimidating.
“He hasn’t done anything yet, but Zeus can’t find any information about him.”
“Can’t find any information?”
“For now, we only know that his name is Zhou Zhou, height 180, but we can’t find any information about his age, family, education, address or past life experiences. It’s like he appeared out of thin air.”
In the current interstellar era, there was only one country, the Atrus Empire they were in. Everyone’s information from birth to death would be recorded, so Zhou Zhou appearing out of thin air was indeed very suspicious, and he even intentionally approached the Emperor, with no small motives.
“What do you want me to do?” Heya clenched his fists, “You want me to capture him? But with that small physique, you guys should be able to handle it yourselves.”
Ryan looked at him helplessly, “Can you stop thinking only about fighting and killing? It’s not difficult to capture him, but we need to know who’s behind him. To be able to evade Zeus’s monitoring means they have some technology that can rival Zeus. My identity as the captain of the Guards is no secret, and the identities of other military personnel are all registered in Zeus’s information system. They might detect us as soon as we show up. Your identity is the most suitable.”
Heya was the second son of the Empire’s High General, but for some reason he was raised on other planets since childhood, and his identity information was not with the Heya family. After growing up, he even went to become a mercenary, with no apparent connection to the capital on the surface, making him the most suitable candidate.
“You mean for me to follow him?”
“Yeah.”
“Which planet does he live on?”
“Unknown.”
“Unknown? Then how can I follow him?”
“Pay close attention to his movements in the game, and get to know him if necessary. We’ll also try to find his address in the real world as soon as possible.”
Although Zeus could monitor him in the game at all times, Zeus was not human after all, and sometimes certain actions or hidden messages could not be understood, so a person still needed to keep an eye on him.
“I have to follow him even when he’s just wandering around in the game?”
“Yep.”
Heya’s eyes widened and he raised his voice, “Do I have to follow him even when doing instance quests?”
“Of course.” Ryan glanced at him, “Keep your voice down, are you afraid no one else can hear you?”
Heya irritatedly scratched his head, “Why not get someone else then? You know being a mercenary is a hassle, there’s too much to worry about. I probably won’t be able to keep an eye on him the whole time here.”
Ryan looked at him suspiciously, “When I called you over, didn’t you say you were bored out of your mind recently? Don’t worry, you’re a mercenary now, the pay will definitely be hefty.”
Thinking Heya was hesitating to negotiate a higher price, Ryan quoted a rate that no mercenary group could refuse.
“Their target is likely the Emperor, so be extra careful.”
Upon hearing it was related to the Emperor, Heya agreed, though his expression was displeased.
Ryan had known him since childhood and knew that despite his rough appearance, he was meticulous at heart. If he agreed, he would definitely follow through. But this task shouldn’t be too difficult for him, so why the sour face?
Looking over in that direction again, Ryan saw the target was about to leave. He couldn’t linger any longer in case he was discovered, so he could only remind Heya a few more times.
“It’s perfect timing actually, since your spiritual power has recently hit a bottleneck. You can try breaking through the bottleneck with this game.”
Heya sneered, “This game might have some effect on ordinary people, but not much for me.”
Ryan straightened his body, “You never know, it varies from person to person. Plus, some instances do have decent effects. You just registered today and haven’t tried it yet, how would you know? Give it your best shot.”
He patted Heya’s shoulder and logged off directly from there.
Only Heya was left standing there with a sullen expression. After a while, seeing Zhou Zhou about to leave his line of sight, he finally followed.
After exchanging contact information with Qian Le and agreeing to have dinner together in the afternoon, Zhou Zhou left the amusement park carrying his little bear.
He was a bit tired. Ever since Xue Li and the others entered the school campus, he hadn’t slept at all, so he needed to find a place to sleep.
The mission panel had a map of the entire Nightmare City beginner village. Zhou Zhou originally wanted to buy a house as his own home, but found that the housing prices here were very high, all starting from tens of thousands of points, so he could only rent a house first, and buy one later when he had enough points saved up.
Taking public transportation to the rental location, the houses here cost one hundred points per day, which wasn’t too expensive for him. Zhou Zhou rented a simply decorated house for a month.
There was no dust in the virtual space, and no need for cleaning either. Zhou Zhou entered the room, lay on the bed hugging the little bear, and fell asleep in one second.
Heya didn’t understand, he really didn’t understand.
Why would someone come to a game just to sleep? Wouldn’t it be better to just log off and go sleep in the real world with that time?
Was his living environment in reality too poor? Or was he afraid of being tracked if he logged off?
Regardless of the reason, his task was to keep an eye on the target, whether he was sleeping or in an instance, just closely watch him was enough. Whether he was sleeping or bathing was none of his business.
The time agreed with Qian Le was six o’clock. Zhou Zhou opened his eyes at five-fifty sharp, his gaze clear, not at all like someone who had just woken up.
Leaving the little bear he was hugging on the bed, Zhou Zhou got ready in five minutes and left.
He arrived at the entrance of the amusement park right at six o’clock, his timing extremely precise.
Qian Le jumped off an observation car not far away and came jogging over to Zhou Zhou.
“Sorry for making you wait so long.” Six o’clock was when his shift changed, so Qian Le rushed over here after the handover.
Zhou Zhou shook his head, “No problem, I just got here too.”
“So, where shall we eat?” Qian Le asked haltingly. He had agreed to have dinner with the other person without really thinking it through, and spent the whole afternoon pondering where they should go.
Zhou Zhou had only been to one place, but he didn’t say it directly. Instead, he asked Qian Le, “Is there anything in particular you want to eat?”
Qian Le waved his hand casually, “I can eat anything.”
“Then I’ll take you to the place I went before, the taste was pretty good.” The two took public transportation to the restaurant where Zhou Zhou had eaten with Xue Li and the others before. Seeing the exquisitely decorated shop with its unique style, Qian Le’s steps faltered slightly.
This tiny movement was caught by Zhou Zhou.
“What’s wrong?” he turned and asked.
This restaurant was very famous in the interstellar world, and the prices were a bit high. After leaving home at eighteen, Qian Le had to earn tuition and living expenses himself, so he naturally didn’t have spare money to eat at places like this.
“It’s too expensive, I don’t have that much money,” Qian Le said bluntly. He wasn’t going to put on a fake front.
Last time it was Xue Li who treated them, so he didn’t know how much it would cost. Hearing Qian Le say this, Zhou Zhou tilted his head and pondered for a moment before asking, “How much would it cost for two people to eat here?”
Qian Le said uncertainly, “At least a few hundred points, I’d think.”
Zhou Zhou smiled, looking very pleased, “I have enough money, let me treat you, to thank you for the little bear and fireworks.”
When Zhou Zhou smiled, he looked like a little hamster that had discovered it still had plenty of food, with a small sense of pride and gratitude. Not only was it not off-putting, but it made him seem rather cute.
Qian Le didn’t expect that he would use the word “cute” to describe a boy around his age, but he did seem quite cute. Qian Le snuck a few more glances, thinking secretly to himself.
The two entered the restaurant together, and Heya followed them in. The seating design here was very ingenious, with partitions between each table forming separate spaces. If you didn’t want others to hear your conversation, you could set it to a private space yourself.
Zhou Zhou and Qian Le didn’t set it to private, which conveniently allowed Heya, seated at the neighboring table, to listen in.
The two chatted as they ate, seemingly getting along well.
Qian Le was considerate enough not to bring up Zhou Zhou’s sorrows, only picking other topics to discuss.
Heya listened for a while, and they were basically just talking about topics young people liked. For most of the time, it was the other boy doing the talking while Zhou Zhou listened, occasionally chiming in a few words.
It didn’t seem like there was any problem.
Qian Le complained that it was too hard to earn money these days. At eighteen, he was kicked out by his parents and had been working at an amusement park in his hometown during vacations and free time. Coincidentally, their amusement park had also opened one in the Nightmare City game, so he came here to work since the pay was higher than in the real world.
Hearing this, Zhou Zhou curiously asked, “Is it really that hard to earn points?” He was thinking about earning points to buy his own house.
“Yeah, I earn one hundred points a day, and it takes me almost an entire vacation to save up enough for tuition.”
Qian Le looked at Zhou Zhou, who seemed deep in thought. His posture was very elegant, every movement exuding a manner and upbringing different from ordinary people. His family conditions must be quite good to not have to worry about tuition like him…
Thinking of this, Qian Le suddenly slapped his forehead loudly. He was being delusional, what was the point of guessing about a new friend’s family background? Maybe Zhou Zhou’s family had the same view of being self-reliant after eighteen.
“Zhou Zhou, are you earning money yourself now or…” He could just ask directly, weren’t they friends? What was the point of guessing around?
Zhou Zhou shook his head, “I don’t have any family, nor a way to earn money. The points I’m spending now were earned from instances before.”
Qian Le immediately felt sorry for him, regretting his blabbering mouth that had brought up the other’s sorrows again.
He was a softie, and would tear up at the slightest sentimental scene. Although he didn’t cry after hearing Zhou Zhou say that, his eyes did redden.
Qian Le stood up excitedly, “Don’t worry! I’ll help you earn money. As long as I have a mouth, I definitely won’t let you starve. How many points do you have left? Not much, right? Let me treat you to this meal.”
Even if it meant borrowing money from his parents when he went home and paying them back by working later.
Zhou Zhou didn’t know why Qian Le was about to cry again, he did seem to cry a lot.
“Thank you, I still have 71,989 points left, so not too much anymore.”
Qian Le sat back down silently.
How embarrassing.
That was a hundred times more than all his savings combined.
If he had 70,000 points, he would just laze around at home during vacations.
Suddenly, faint laughter could be heard from the side. Zhou Zhou turned to look but couldn’t see anything past the partition.
“Um, Zhou Zhou, how did you earn money? Could you tell me a little bit about it?”
Qian Le’s reddened eyes suddenly lit up as he looked at Zhou Zhou with eyes like he was staring at interstellar currency. Thinking of something, he hurriedly added, “Never mind if it’s inconvenient.”
“I earned it from the newbie instance.”
Instance? You could earn money that way?
He had heard that many people died in instances and needed a large sum of points to revive.
Currently, many people entering Nightmare City were still observing, because the game’s instance death rates were very high, and each death in an instance required a huge amount of points to revive. So those who were more cautious or short on funds were preparing to earn some points in the game first before entering instances. Otherwise, they might not even have enough points for revival, and by then, there would likely be walkthroughs out for many instances already.
Qian Le had never considered doing instances before, because several people he knew died in the newbie instance and still didn’t have enough points to revive themselves, only able to try earning money in the real world.
There were also some who didn’t earn high points even after clearing it, so he had just been diligently working at the amusement park. Now hearing Zhou Zhou say this, he suddenly felt tempted.
“How many instances did you clear to earn this much?”
“One.”
One instance for 70,000 points!
Qian Le wasn’t just tempted, he practically wanted to take action immediately.
“Zhou Zhou, could you, could you take me along the next time you do an instance?” Qian Le felt a bit embarrassed, having just met the other today but already asking him to help earn money. Would Zhou Zhou think he was too thick-skinned?
“Of course, I’d be happy to do instances together with you.”
Even though it was his own suggestion, Zhou Zhou’s words made it sound like he had proposed it first and was asking for his opinion, not making Qian Le feel awkward at all.
Qian Le gazed at Zhou Zhou, the deep blue ocean flowing behind him. A warm current also flowed through his heart, and his face felt oddly heated. He hurriedly lowered his head, not daring to look anymore.
Although Qian Le’s looks couldn’t compare to Zhou Zhou’s, he had the characteristic youthful radiance of a young man.
One radiantly youthful, the other exquisitely beautiful. The two sat at the same table, surrounded by warm lighting, appearing exceptionally harmonious together.
“Hahahahaha, could you take me along too?”
A gruff voice like thunder shattered the atmosphere between the two. Zhou Zhou and Qian Le couldn’t help but look over, a dark shadow looming over them that seemed to dim even their vision.
These two people stood in front of some greenery in the amusement park, being vigilant about any movements around them while chatting casually.
The man with golden shoulder-length hair was handsome, with a slightly nonchalant smile hanging on the corner of his mouth. He seemed to be leaning against a tree casually, but there were no blind spots around him that could be attacked.
Hearing the other person’s question, he also glanced towards the Ferris wheel, “Yeah, it’s him.”
“He looks like a pampered son from some noble family, what did he do?” The other man was over two meters tall, burly and muscular, with an ancient bronze-colored skin and large muscle blocks that looked very intimidating.
“He hasn’t done anything yet, but Zeus can’t find any information about him.”
“Can’t find any information?”
“For now, we only know that his name is Zhou Zhou, height 180, but we can’t find any information about his age, family, education, address or past life experiences. It’s like he appeared out of thin air.”
In the current interstellar era, there was only one country, the Atrus Empire they were in. Everyone’s information from birth to death would be recorded, so Zhou Zhou appearing out of thin air was indeed very suspicious, and he even intentionally approached the Emperor, with no small motives.
“What do you want me to do?” Heya clenched his fists, “You want me to capture him? But with that small physique, you guys should be able to handle it yourselves.”
Ryan looked at him helplessly, “Can you stop thinking only about fighting and killing? It’s not difficult to capture him, but we need to know who’s behind him. To be able to evade Zeus’s monitoring means they have some technology that can rival Zeus. My identity as the captain of the Guards is no secret, and the identities of other military personnel are all registered in Zeus’s information system. They might detect us as soon as we show up. Your identity is the most suitable.”
Heya was the second son of the Empire’s High General, but for some reason he was raised on other planets since childhood, and his identity information was not with the Heya family. After growing up, he even went to become a mercenary, with no apparent connection to the capital on the surface, making him the most suitable candidate.
“You mean for me to follow him?”
“Yeah.”
“Which planet does he live on?”
“Unknown.”
“Unknown? Then how can I follow him?”
“Pay close attention to his movements in the game, and get to know him if necessary. We’ll also try to find his address in the real world as soon as possible.”
Although Zeus could monitor him in the game at all times, Zeus was not human after all, and sometimes certain actions or hidden messages could not be understood, so a person still needed to keep an eye on him.
“I have to follow him even when he’s just wandering around in the game?”
“Yep.”
Heya’s eyes widened and he raised his voice, “Do I have to follow him even when doing instance quests?”
“Of course.” Ryan glanced at him, “Keep your voice down, are you afraid no one else can hear you?”
Heya irritatedly scratched his head, “Why not get someone else then? You know being a mercenary is a hassle, there’s too much to worry about. I probably won’t be able to keep an eye on him the whole time here.”
Ryan looked at him suspiciously, “When I called you over, didn’t you say you were bored out of your mind recently? Don’t worry, you’re a mercenary now, the pay will definitely be hefty.”
Thinking Heya was hesitating to negotiate a higher price, Ryan quoted a rate that no mercenary group could refuse.
“Their target is likely the Emperor, so be extra careful.”
Upon hearing it was related to the Emperor, Heya agreed, though his expression was displeased.
Ryan had known him since childhood and knew that despite his rough appearance, he was meticulous at heart. If he agreed, he would definitely follow through. But this task shouldn’t be too difficult for him, so why the sour face?
Looking over in that direction again, Ryan saw the target was about to leave. He couldn’t linger any longer in case he was discovered, so he could only remind Heya a few more times.
“It’s perfect timing actually, since your spiritual power has recently hit a bottleneck. You can try breaking through the bottleneck with this game.”
Heya sneered, “This game might have some effect on ordinary people, but not much for me.”
Ryan straightened his body, “You never know, it varies from person to person. Plus, some instances do have decent effects. You just registered today and haven’t tried it yet, how would you know? Give it your best shot.”
He patted Heya’s shoulder and logged off directly from there.
Only Heya was left standing there with a sullen expression. After a while, seeing Zhou Zhou about to leave his line of sight, he finally followed.
After exchanging contact information with Qian Le and agreeing to have dinner together in the afternoon, Zhou Zhou left the amusement park carrying his little bear.
He was a bit tired. Ever since Xue Li and the others entered the school campus, he hadn’t slept at all, so he needed to find a place to sleep.
The mission panel had a map of the entire Nightmare City beginner village. Zhou Zhou originally wanted to buy a house as his own home, but found that the housing prices here were very high, all starting from tens of thousands of points, so he could only rent a house first, and buy one later when he had enough points saved up.
Taking public transportation to the rental location, the houses here cost one hundred points per day, which wasn’t too expensive for him. Zhou Zhou rented a simply decorated house for a month.
There was no dust in the virtual space, and no need for cleaning either. Zhou Zhou entered the room, lay on the bed hugging the little bear, and fell asleep in one second.
Heya didn’t understand, he really didn’t understand.
Why would someone come to a game just to sleep? Wouldn’t it be better to just log off and go sleep in the real world with that time?
Was his living environment in reality too poor? Or was he afraid of being tracked if he logged off?
Regardless of the reason, his task was to keep an eye on the target, whether he was sleeping or in an instance, just closely watch him was enough. Whether he was sleeping or bathing was none of his business.
The time agreed with Qian Le was six o’clock. Zhou Zhou opened his eyes at five-fifty sharp, his gaze clear, not at all like someone who had just woken up.
Leaving the little bear he was hugging on the bed, Zhou Zhou got ready in five minutes and left.
He arrived at the entrance of the amusement park right at six o’clock, his timing extremely precise.
Qian Le jumped off an observation car not far away and came jogging over to Zhou Zhou.
“Sorry for making you wait so long.” Six o’clock was when his shift changed, so Qian Le rushed over here after the handover.
Zhou Zhou shook his head, “No problem, I just got here too.”
“So, where shall we eat?” Qian Le asked haltingly. He had agreed to have dinner with the other person without really thinking it through, and spent the whole afternoon pondering where they should go.
Zhou Zhou had only been to one place, but he didn’t say it directly. Instead, he asked Qian Le, “Is there anything in particular you want to eat?”
Qian Le waved his hand casually, “I can eat anything.”
“Then I’ll take you to the place I went before, the taste was pretty good.” The two took public transportation to the restaurant where Zhou Zhou had eaten with Xue Li and the others before. Seeing the exquisitely decorated shop with its unique style, Qian Le’s steps faltered slightly.
This tiny movement was caught by Zhou Zhou.
“What’s wrong?” he turned and asked.
This restaurant was very famous in the interstellar world, and the prices were a bit high. After leaving home at eighteen, Qian Le had to earn tuition and living expenses himself, so he naturally didn’t have spare money to eat at places like this.
“It’s too expensive, I don’t have that much money,” Qian Le said bluntly. He wasn’t going to put on a fake front.
Last time it was Xue Li who treated them, so he didn’t know how much it would cost. Hearing Qian Le say this, Zhou Zhou tilted his head and pondered for a moment before asking, “How much would it cost for two people to eat here?”
Qian Le said uncertainly, “At least a few hundred points, I’d think.”
Zhou Zhou smiled, looking very pleased, “I have enough money, let me treat you, to thank you for the little bear and fireworks.”
When Zhou Zhou smiled, he looked like a little hamster that had discovered it still had plenty of food, with a small sense of pride and gratitude. Not only was it not off-putting, but it made him seem rather cute.
Qian Le didn’t expect that he would use the word “cute” to describe a boy around his age, but he did seem quite cute. Qian Le snuck a few more glances, thinking secretly to himself.
The two entered the restaurant together, and Heya followed them in. The seating design here was very ingenious, with partitions between each table forming separate spaces. If you didn’t want others to hear your conversation, you could set it to a private space yourself.
Zhou Zhou and Qian Le didn’t set it to private, which conveniently allowed Heya, seated at the neighboring table, to listen in.
The two chatted as they ate, seemingly getting along well.
Qian Le was considerate enough not to bring up Zhou Zhou’s sorrows, only picking other topics to discuss.
Heya listened for a while, and they were basically just talking about topics young people liked. For most of the time, it was the other boy doing the talking while Zhou Zhou listened, occasionally chiming in a few words.
It didn’t seem like there was any problem.
Qian Le complained that it was too hard to earn money these days. At eighteen, he was kicked out by his parents and had been working at an amusement park in his hometown during vacations and free time. Coincidentally, their amusement park had also opened one in the Nightmare City game, so he came here to work since the pay was higher than in the real world.
Hearing this, Zhou Zhou curiously asked, “Is it really that hard to earn points?” He was thinking about earning points to buy his own house.
“Yeah, I earn one hundred points a day, and it takes me almost an entire vacation to save up enough for tuition.”
Qian Le looked at Zhou Zhou, who seemed deep in thought. His posture was very elegant, every movement exuding a manner and upbringing different from ordinary people. His family conditions must be quite good to not have to worry about tuition like him…
Thinking of this, Qian Le suddenly slapped his forehead loudly. He was being delusional, what was the point of guessing about a new friend’s family background? Maybe Zhou Zhou’s family had the same view of being self-reliant after eighteen.
“Zhou Zhou, are you earning money yourself now or…” He could just ask directly, weren’t they friends? What was the point of guessing around?
Zhou Zhou shook his head, “I don’t have any family, nor a way to earn money. The points I’m spending now were earned from instances before.”
Qian Le immediately felt sorry for him, regretting his blabbering mouth that had brought up the other’s sorrows again.
He was a softie, and would tear up at the slightest sentimental scene. Although he didn’t cry after hearing Zhou Zhou say that, his eyes did redden.
Qian Le stood up excitedly, “Don’t worry! I’ll help you earn money. As long as I have a mouth, I definitely won’t let you starve. How many points do you have left? Not much, right? Let me treat you to this meal.”
Even if it meant borrowing money from his parents when he went home and paying them back by working later.
Zhou Zhou didn’t know why Qian Le was about to cry again, he did seem to cry a lot.
“Thank you, I still have 71,989 points left, so not too much anymore.”
Qian Le sat back down silently.
How embarrassing.
That was a hundred times more than all his savings combined.
If he had 70,000 points, he would just laze around at home during vacations.
Suddenly, faint laughter could be heard from the side. Zhou Zhou turned to look but couldn’t see anything past the partition.
“Um, Zhou Zhou, how did you earn money? Could you tell me a little bit about it?”
Qian Le’s reddened eyes suddenly lit up as he looked at Zhou Zhou with eyes like he was staring at interstellar currency. Thinking of something, he hurriedly added, “Never mind if it’s inconvenient.”
“I earned it from the newbie instance.”
Instance? You could earn money that way?
He had heard that many people died in instances and needed a large sum of points to revive.
Currently, many people entering Nightmare City were still observing, because the game’s instance death rates were very high, and each death in an instance required a huge amount of points to revive. So those who were more cautious or short on funds were preparing to earn some points in the game first before entering instances. Otherwise, they might not even have enough points for revival, and by then, there would likely be walkthroughs out for many instances already.
Qian Le had never considered doing instances before, because several people he knew died in the newbie instance and still didn’t have enough points to revive themselves, only able to try earning money in the real world.
There were also some who didn’t earn high points even after clearing it, so he had just been diligently working at the amusement park. Now hearing Zhou Zhou say this, he suddenly felt tempted.
“How many instances did you clear to earn this much?”
“One.”
One instance for 70,000 points!
Qian Le wasn’t just tempted, he practically wanted to take action immediately.
“Zhou Zhou, could you, could you take me along the next time you do an instance?” Qian Le felt a bit embarrassed, having just met the other today but already asking him to help earn money. Would Zhou Zhou think he was too thick-skinned?
“Of course, I’d be happy to do instances together with you.”
Even though it was his own suggestion, Zhou Zhou’s words made it sound like he had proposed it first and was asking for his opinion, not making Qian Le feel awkward at all.
Qian Le gazed at Zhou Zhou, the deep blue ocean flowing behind him. A warm current also flowed through his heart, and his face felt oddly heated. He hurriedly lowered his head, not daring to look anymore.
Although Qian Le’s looks couldn’t compare to Zhou Zhou’s, he had the characteristic youthful radiance of a young man.
One radiantly youthful, the other exquisitely beautiful. The two sat at the same table, surrounded by warm lighting, appearing exceptionally harmonious together.
“Hahahahaha, could you take me along too?”
A gruff voice like thunder shattered the atmosphere between the two. Zhou Zhou and Qian Le couldn’t help but look over, a dark shadow looming over them that seemed to dim even their vision.
