Chapter 112

Public

The light of justice fell upon this derelict room.

Even the criminals, who had done a great deal of wrong in their time, had never imagined that they would one day long for the police to arrive from the heavens.

When they saw the officers burst through the door, tears of genuine relief streamed down their faces.

At last. An escape from this den of terror.

Ah Rou still had half a bread roll in her mouth. She looked warily at the strangers who'd appeared out of nowhere, then turned her questioning look on Curly Hair.

"Don't do anything," Ah Peng said quietly. "These two have a justice rating of 80."

"You're joking." Ah Rou stepped back to signal non-aggression. Only characters of pure and genuine virtue — those who had dedicated themselves to saving others — ever registered above sixty.

A justice rating over 80 appearing in a survival instance was more improbable than the Main God kneeling before her and calling her queen.

Ah Peng also found it impossible. But it had happened.

His skill allowed three uses per day. He'd already used it twice. He hesitated — then looked at the two men standing behind Curly Hair.

He knew one of them: the NPC who'd taken Curly Hair away. No data visible above that one's head. But the man beside him — he saw—

Nnng—

The moment his gaze moved over, his skull felt like it had been flattened under a freight truck. His heart crashed against his ribs as if this world were about to split him apart.

In that instant, he felt his soul leave his body. Everything around him went hollow and vast, falling into endless nothing.

"Xiao Juan — your friend doesn't look well. Is he sick?"

That voice was a hook, dragging his soul back into him, returning him to the real world.

He gasped several large breaths, and looked at Curly Hair's golden-thigh NPC with pure, overwhelming gratitude.

One sentence and it saved his useless life. This is what a golden thigh looks like.

"Thank you for your concern. I'm fine."

Golden Thigh, I want to bow to the ground before you.

The officers had formed a circle around Chao Musheng and Xu Chenzhu. When Chao Musheng spoke, they were taken aback. Consultant Chao knew these criminals?

The situation had become extremely unclear.

Curly Hair surveyed the chaos of the room and hardened herself. "There's been a misunderstanding. They aren't criminals. They're art students — they've been in Hanyue for an intensive retreat, searching for creative inspiration."

"That's right." Da Chang was the first to recover, reading Curly Hair's expression and stepping in. "We're trying to find the power of life within hardship. To capture that vigorous, upward-reaching light."

What on earth?

The officers didn't understand art. But they could see the people on the floor.

"These ones — also art?"

Legs twisted into those shapes — that was certainly abstract.

Curly Hair was equally baffled. Where had this lot come from?

"They came in with knives and clubs and went for us without a word." Ah Rou looked as delicate as her name suggested; when she turned her reddened eyes on the room, no one would have doubted her innocence for a moment.

The players talked over each other describing how aggressively the men had stormed in and how frightening their behavior had been — notably not explaining why any of them were now on the floor.

"Captain — these people fit the suspect descriptions our witnesses gave for the accomplices." An officer moved closer to examine the five on the floor. "I think these are the suspects we were after."

They'd come prepared for a struggle. Instead, some public-spirited citizens had already handled it.

"Help—!" The boss extended a trembling hand and grabbed an officer's trouser leg. He opened his mouth. A tooth fell out. "These people... are demons."

A tooth.

The officer was startled. Were these well-meaning citizens also martial arts masters?

They collected the weapons scattered around the scene, took away the five suspects — three with broken legs, all with swollen faces — and gathered the five players together for a formal address.

"We sincerely thank you for your courage in stepping forward and helping us apprehend these dangerous criminals. However, in the future — if you encounter a situation like this, please prioritize your own safety. Do not engage directly with violent offenders."

The five nodded in silence. Curly Hair stood in the corner and looked away. She'd lost enough face today. She had no desire to share in further group indignity.

"Also — your current living situation cannot continue. We very much respect your dedication to your art, but you cannot compromise your personal safety. This place is filthy and dangerous." The chief, out of consideration for the fact that these people were friends of Consultant Chao's, offered his patient reasoning. "Finding the power of life in hardship is a beautiful concept — it speaks to a genuine awareness of the difficulties ordinary people face. But..."

He looked at the holes in the walls, the mould seeping through the plaster. "But there's no need to manufacture hardship. If you want the experience, you could try helping on a construction site or working the corn harvest with local farmers. That's living life too."

The five players had no clear picture of what was happening. They agreed to everything the officers said.

"The rain should be stopping soon. Once it does, please move out of here." The chief was satisfied with their cooperation. At least they weren't crying and insisting on continuing their artistic quest. Very accommodating.

After this address was concluded, the chief offered to drive Chao Musheng back to the hotel.

"Thank you — it's still early, and we'd like to walk around a bit. Please go ahead." He glanced at Curly Hair. "I can help them move out at the same time."

"That works." The chief nodded. With Consultant Chao present, these artistic young people would presumably feel embarrassed staying on.

He led his colleagues downstairs and found several new, solidly-built figures waiting at the bottom.

"Chief — those are Mr. Xu's bodyguards." A colleague explained. "They were helping Ms. Chen search for the child this afternoon. They've just caught up."

"Have two officers stay down here." The chief exhaled with feeling. Thank goodness nothing had happened to Mr. Xu.

*

Once the police had gone, the five players all looked at Curly Hair without speaking.

"Why are you staring at me? Start packing up and come outside with my Xiao Chao." She ignored them and turned to Chao Musheng. "Xiao Chao — I'm sorry. They can be a bit... Sorry you had to see that."

"I understand — they're artists." He nodded with generous comprehension. "Having good physical conditioning is normal for that."

What did art have to do with physical conditioning?

Curly Hair had the distinct impression Xiao Chao had misunderstood something. But since he wasn't asking further questions, that was actually convenient.

Going downstairs, Ah Peng positioned himself at the very back of the group, using everyone else's bodies as shields between himself and the quiet man at the front.

That silent man was simply too frightening.

"Zhaozhao." Xu Chenzhu glanced back, and found Chao Musheng's hand. "The path might be slippery."

"I grew up running around countryside like this — I know this kind of road well." Chao Musheng's fingers threaded through the gaps between his and held firm. He looked down at Xu Chenzhu's dress shoes and smiled. "You probably don't walk paths like this very often?"

"I have, actually." The warmth in his palm spread into his expression.

He had walked in all the places Zhaozhao had walked. Tasted the foods Zhaozhao had praised.

He hadn't even dared hope for the right to walk beside him like this. He'd only allowed himself to look from a distance, trying to touch something brief and borrowed — a trace of the happiness that had lived in places Zhaozhao had been.

"Coming up." Da Chang looked ahead. This was the boundary of the instance — the place that, no matter how they tried, none of them had been able to pass through.

The five players tensed as they approached it, their whole bodies going rigid.

"Watch the path here." Chao Musheng noticed the sudden silence behind him and looked back. "There's a small slope — it's slippery."

Through.

Da Chang felt it clearly — as though he'd passed through a thin veil of mist. He was through, effortlessly, just like that.

A world NPC can bring players out of a fixed movement zone?

Was this a hidden setting built into the original instance, or was this NPC something out of the ordinary?

Through the dark passage, the smell of cumin reached him from somewhere ahead.

Was that...

He looked up and saw a world entirely unlike the one he'd imagined.

Old people sitting by the roadside in conversation. Amber streetlights. A barbecue stall wreathed in smoke. Cats and dogs ambling past a street corner.

This was a 3S survival instance world?

"Xiao Chao — I'll get them settled in the rental." Curly Hair glanced at the joined hands. "Don't let me interrupt your time together."

At that, Xu Chenzhu — who had given his attention entirely to Chao Musheng since leaving the building — finally spared her a look. "If there are difficulties with the housing, Secretary Liu can help."

"No need — the apartment was sorted yesterday. They just preferred living in ruins and refused to move in." She was taken aback by the offer. "Enjoy your evening, you two. We'll be going."

She gestured sharply at the five players: move.

Ah Peng set off at the fastest pace. His large frame made Curly Hair look small beside him. Once they'd turned the corner and Xu Chenzhu was no longer visible, he finally allowed himself to look around properly.

Clean streets. A quiet night. Pedestrians who appeared entirely at ease and unthreatening.

"Xiao Juan — something about this place seems off." He just couldn't square it. Too peaceful, too ordinary.

"It's always been like this." She brought them to the apartment she'd rented in advance. "Two bedrooms, a kitchen, a sitting room, a bathroom. This is where you'll stay until the instance ends."

"Xiao Juan — you already knew we'd be able to leave that place, didn't you." Da Chang looked around the clean apartment — clearly chosen with care. "You prepared this beforehand."

"Yes. I just didn't expect it to happen this quickly." She'd originally planned to find the right moment and ask Xiao Chao for help. Plans never outpaced circumstances.

"Xiao Juan — who was that man with the golden thigh?" Ah Peng's skin was still crawling. "I used my skill to look at him and nearly died on the spot."

"It came suddenly — I didn't have time to warn you." Her expression was complicated. "You were lucky that Xiao Chao was beside him when you looked, or you'd actually be dead. Remember this: never use a skill to look directly at him."

The five players' faces changed.

Between them, they'd survived a great many instance worlds. They had never encountered a boss this powerful.

"What is he?"

"I don't know." She shook her head with a rueful smile. "I only know he's a terrifying existence."

Can't be looked at directly. Can't be offended. And it's impossible to tell what his stance toward players actually is.

The players, who had been quietly happy about their freedom, fell silent.

"You don't need to worry, though." She reassured them. "As long as players don't provoke him, he'll pay them no attention."

"Good." Ah Peng let out a breath. "You have no idea — my soul nearly actually left my body. Like, literally left."

"Anyway, Xiao Juan—" He just asked it. "How do you know so much about this mysterious boss?"

"Can none of you see it?" She raised an eyebrow. "He's Xiao Chao's partner."

"Pfft—" Ah Peng nearly choked. "Your golden thigh's partner?! "

She nodded.

He opened his mouth. Closed it. Eventually: "I mean, standing next to each other, they do look right together."

One sentence from the golden thigh pulls back a soul that's already halfway out of the body. That same golden thigh helps players break free from instance boundaries. Clearly a formidable man.

"Tell him that to his face next time — he'll enjoy hearing it." She smiled sideways. "He's romantically sentimental."

Nobody quite believed this — but everyone understood from the warmth in her tone that she was genuinely close to both of them. Someone purely trying to secure a powerful connection wouldn't speak about them like that.

Da Chang drew back the curtain and looked at the lights coming on in the other apartments around them. "We've been in this instance world for several days now. No strange events, no monsters, no ghosts."

He turned back to her. "Xiao Juan — is this instance world malfunctioning?"

"That dog of a Main God is scheming against us again." Ah Rou said suddenly, the pieces clicking. "No wonder everything in this instance has been wrong from the start."

"The instance has malfunctioned, yes — but it's a good thing." Curly Hair turned on a signal scrambler. "Haven't you noticed? Since we entered this instance, aside from being restricted to a movement zone, our health hasn't decreased once. The system hasn't issued us any new objectives."

Since the moment they'd entered, all players' health points remained at 100.

"True." Hua Ba opened her personal information panel. Full health. The mission log hadn't updated since they'd arrived. "The Main God is capable of generosity?"

"Because this isn't the instance world we were originally supposed to enter." A short laugh. "You've probably heard about the string of failed exploration instances recently?"

Even notorious troublemakers like them had heard the rumour of the hundred-percent failure rate in recent exploration instances. They nodded.

"This world is what all those failed explorations have been encountering." She watched their faces and knew what they were realizing. "That's right. Every failed exploration instance in recent memory has ended here, in this world."

"How do you know so much about it?"

"Because I've been to this world many times." She ran her fingers over the newly purchased scrambler. "Every time, I watched the instance end in failure."

The five were stunned. Then, after a long silence, all of them shivered.

"You mean we might be stuck in this strange exploration instance layer — with no way out?" Ah Rou said, alarmed. "That's disastrous. We have no money."

"No money and no ID documents." She sighed. "Even this apartment — I had to invent a reason to rent it."

No ID of her own — she'd used the identity information from her Kunlun internship. Fortunately the landlord was elderly and, upon seeing cash, had handed over the keys without much fuss.

"What's an ID document?"

"In this world, everyone born here is assigned a unique identification number." She thought of the failed players still working a black-market job at a barbecue stall. "You need it for everything in this world — buses, trains, flights."

"An instance world with this much internal consistency — this level of depth?" Da Chang's voice was careful. A bold idea was forming. "Xiao Juan... is this a real world?"

"Yes. Welcome to a world of living people." Her expression was complicated. "For the next few days, walk around. Have a look at things. Experience ordinary life. When you want to leave, I'll find a way."

*

"What are you thinking about?" Chao Musheng shook Xu Chenzhu's hand. They were strolling under the amber streetlights, their feet splashing through a shallow puddle.

"That today was quite a busy date." He looked down at the shadows of the two of them cast on the ground, then stopped and took out his phone to photograph the joined shadows.

"It really was." Chao Musheng glanced at the photo. "Why take that?"

Xu Chenzhu added a soft filter and said with complete gravity: "Today was our first official date. It deserves a commemorative post."

He opened his social feed and shared the photo.

One lamp. Two people.

Post sent, he looked at Chao Musheng and put the phone away. "Shall we go?"

"Wait." He held him back. "You're right — it deserves to be marked."

He raised their joined hands and took a photo.

[Zhaozhao Mumuou: Holding hands! (image)]

Xu Chenzhu opened his phone, and couldn't look away from Zhaozhao's post for a very long time.

Did this count as formally announcing them?

"Why are you looking at your phone — look at me." Chao Musheng swung his hand gently. Rounding a quiet crossroads, they found small fires burning at the corner and the air carrying the smell of smouldering paper offerings.

"It's the 13th of the seventh lunar month?" He suddenly remembered — the Ghost Festival was two days away. Some places began burning offerings on the approaching evenings out of observance.

"Young man — this is the county's designated burning area." An old man walked past with his dog and paused, worried these young people might be careless about the occasion. "These two nights have particular significance. Head home early tonight — especially tomorrow night, once it's dark."

"Thank you, elder." Chao Musheng stopped and didn't walk further.

"Oh!" The old man stepped closer. "It's you two!"

The young man and the other young man from outside the hotel, a few nights ago.

He looked at their joined hands and nodded with the expression of a man whose theory had been confirmed. A couple, of course.

"Young man — your boyfriend suits you very well." He gave Chao Musheng a thumbs-up with great feeling. "New times, new freedoms — love is love. A few nights ago your boyfriend stood outside waiting for you three whole hours. A heart like that is beyond question. Wishing you both a long and happy life."

A new-era grandpa. Fully supportive of love in all forms.

"Thank you." Chao Musheng tried to hold in his laughter. "Wishing you good health and a long life as well."

"Woof, woof, woof!" The dog wagged its tail at him with delight.

"And long life to the dog, too." He crouched toward it. "Can I pet him, elder?"

"Go ahead." The old man nudged it gently. "This little thing loves being complimented."

"Very cute." He stroked the dog's head. "The path is a little wet after the rain — please head home safely, elder."

"Xu Chenzhu." He kept his hand on the dog and turned his head. "Come here — take a photo of me from the boyfriend angle."

Once Xu Chenzhu had taken the shot, Chao Musheng said his goodbyes to the old man, then took the phone to look.

"You took this beautifully." He sighed. "Did you study photography?"

"Someone online said a good partner should learn how to photograph the one they love." His voice was perfectly level. "So I sometimes read photography tips."

He had imagined, many times, how he would photograph Zhaozhao if they were ever together.

"Ah." Chao Musheng looked down slightly, expression unreadable. "I thought you must have taken photos for a lot of people before."

"No." Xu Chenzhu looked at him steadily. "Zhaozhao — I've never taken photos for anyone except you."

He looked up, face breaking into a full, curved smile. "So you were preparing in advance — and in the end I was the one who found this treasure."

He tilted his head and kissed him on the cheek. "That's your reward."

The night breeze moved. Xu Chenzhu touched the spot that had been kissed, looking at him with eyes full of something warm and yearning.

Zhaozhao had it wrong. He was the fortunate one.

A short distance away, Assistant Yang stood completely motionless.

Should he have seen that?

He turned rigidly and walked away at speed. He had seen nothing. He would say nothing.

Running back to the hotel out of breath, he opened his phone, saw the boss's post — and realized he was the fool here.

The boss had never had any intention of hiding this. He was practically announcing it to the world.

When had the boss ever posted to his social feed? And yet in the past two days, new content every day.

He scrolled back to the dinner photo. The R&D team leader's frankly unhinged comment was still sitting in the replies.

The shadow photo also had the R&D team leader all over the comment section.

[So perfectly matched, such a beautiful pair! I envy the boss — having such a sweet and tender love.]

Below the team leader, countless familiar profile pictures, all sending their blessings.

Tui!

These people were shameless flatterers — they don't even know how the boss and Consultant Chao actually are together, and they dare talk about sweetness.

He opened the comment box.

[So sweet — wishing you 99 years of happiness!]

He was not like those flattering colleagues. This was entirely sincere. He hoped the boss would see it.

*

In the middle of the night, Chao Musheng sat up in bed suddenly.

Wait. Curly Hair's friends had beaten those criminals into that state — and the police hadn't asked a single follow-up question. From the way they'd behaved in the room, it didn't look like they'd had any prior knowledge of each other either.

Had everyone just... let it go?

Or had something been overlooked?