Chapter 38

Once

It was raining again.

Wan You sat back in his chair, lazily flipping through a book. There were few customers in this weather. He hadn't stocked much, and he wasn't in a hurry even though business was slow.

The rain washed away the dust on the ground, and pedestrians hurried through the downpour.

The sky gradually darkened, but the rain didn't stop. Wan You was preparing to pack up his stall and go back to his rented room to read. Halfway through packing, a woman holding an umbrella appeared in front of his stall.

"Sigh." Wan You sighed, looking at Xiao Juan who had come in the rain, and sighed helplessly, "Let's go, I'll treat you to dinner."

He knew she would come looking for him sooner or later.

Five minutes later, Xiao Juan looked at the bowl of vegetable and fried egg noodles that cost ten yuan. How had she never noticed before how stingy Wan You was?

Treating someone to a meal, and this is what they get?

"You're not eating?" Wan You eyed the fried egg in her bowl.

"I am." Xiao Juan broke open the disposable chopsticks, took a quick bite of the fried egg, and then lowered her head to silently finish the noodles in her bowl.

"What do you need from me?" Wan You opened his umbrella and led Xiao Juan to sit next to his stall. "Just sit here. It's raining hard today, so no one will notice what we're saying."

His friendship with Xiao Juan shouldn't be worth her making this trip in the rain.

Xiao Juan got straight to the point: "Wan You, in the instance you failed, what role did Brother Chao play?"

Brother Chao?

Wan You noticed that when Xiao Juan mentioned Chao Musheng this time, her tone was significantly more intimate than when she came to the barbecue stall last time.

"He was an outstanding student at Jinghua. When we entered the instance as advanced students, he was one of the guides." Wan You paused for a moment. "For the advanced studies graduation exam, the guides graded our papers."

"So, the guides can decide the life and death of the players?" Xiao Juan immediately understood that Chao Musheng was an important NPC in the previous instance.

An important character from the last instance had now become an important presence in her current instance.

This was definitely not something the main god would do.

"This world is not an instance at all."

A strong wind blew, carrying rain onto Xiao Juan's face. "The so-called instance conquest is just a scam by the main god space."

"The worlds that are successfully conquered by players will become spaces controlled by the infinite main god." Xiao Juan's face was pale. "I suspect that the more times an instance is conquered by players, the more rigid the NPCs in the instance world will become, eventually turning into mindless puppets of the infinite space."

Only a lifeless world can allow the infinite main god to set the rules for clearing it, while a living world is always full of accidents that the main god cannot control.

That's why the instances in the infinite space have different difficulty levels.

Those lowest-level instances might be worlds that have completely "died."

"Your guess is very bold." Wan You pointed to his head. "Aren't you afraid of being monitored by this?"

"I brought a handheld signal jammer." Xiao Juan pointed to the bag in her hand. "I've already tested it. As long as I use this world's signal jammer, the system parasitizing my brain can't monitor me properly."

The black market boss who sold her the jammer had patted his chest and said that although the jammer's range was only one meter, it could block all signals.

She didn't expect the boss not to have lied to her; this jammer could even block the system.

The function was so good that it made her think that this world might have some kind of superpower specifically aimed at resisting the invasion of the infinite main god.

It was precisely because of this that she became more and more suspicious of the main god.

The system created by the main god was defeated by a handheld signal jammer from this world. It was the biggest joke in the infinite space.

"Wait." Wan You was surprised. "Ordinary people can't legally buy this thing, right?"

Xiao Juan was even more surprised. She had revealed such a big secret, and Wan You's first thought was that ordinary people couldn't legally buy a jammer?

She looked at the top of Wan You's head, turned off the jammer, and used her skill. The purple mark was no longer flashing and was steadily parked on his head.

Wan You had completely become a person of this world.

[Ding! Dear play...]

Hearing the system's voice in her head, Xiao Juan turned on the jammer again, and her brain was quiet for a moment.

"What did you see on my head?" Having been in the infinite space for a long time, Wan You could tell at a glance that Xiao Juan was using a skill or item to check his data. He didn't expect that he also had data in the eyes of a player.

"A purple-level mark, the same level as a B-rank instance's final BOSS." Seeing Wan You's happy expression, Xiao Juan slowly added, "But at Kunlun headquarters, gold is everywhere and purple is as common as dogs. You still need to work harder."

"Being able to work at Kunlun headquarters, it's natural they're stronger than me." Wan You's smile stiffened, then returned to normal. "That's not strange."

Seeing his stubborn look, Xiao Juan sneered. He was stubborn enough to carve stone.

"This can only temporarily help you prevent your words from being detected by the system, but the system knew when you bought the jammer." Wan You looked at the audacious woman in front of him. "How are you going to fool it?"

"Who said I bought the jammer for the system? Everything I'm doing is for the mission." Xiao Juan smiled, a hint of mockery in her smile. "Maybe the system will try hard to pretend that everything is normal, hoping that I, the player, won't discover this secret."

Wan You raised his eyebrows. "Fine, it's raining so hard, you should go."

The jammer was always on, which affected his ability to look up information on his phone.

"Wan You." Xiao Juan opened her umbrella. "I look forward to seeing you again."

She turned off the jammer and walked into the bustling crowd.

[Ding, dear player, the main god's summons temporarily lost contact with you. Is there any new mission progress?]

[No.]

Xiao Juan stopped, listening to the cheerful sound of raindrops falling on her umbrella, and a smile appeared on her face.

As expected, the system was afraid.

"Xiao Chao, that intern you're close with, she actually knows Wan You. They're talking downstairs."

Upstairs in the dry pot restaurant, Lao Li, sitting by the window, waved at Chao Musheng. "Should we call her up to eat with us?"

Chao Musheng looked downstairs. Xiao Juan had already gotten up with her umbrella, ready to leave. He shook his head. "No need, she probably has her own plans."

When he got off work, he had received a text from Xiao Juan saying she was going to meet an old friend.

It turned out that friend was Wan You.

"Xiao Chao, thank you so much for using your lunch break to help us this time. Otherwise, the art and strategy team would have come to bother us again." His senior was both happy and filled with an indescribable emotion. In the eyes of others, he was the team leader of the game team at Kunlun headquarters, which could be considered a successful career.

But being with Chao Musheng, he truly felt the difference in strength between people.

No wonder the teacher liked Xiao Chao so much, regarded him as a trusted confidant, and even liked to take him on important projects.

Not to mention the teacher's love, even he loved him.

"Xiao Chao, your summer internship is ending in five days." The senior was extremely reluctant. Without Xiao Chao, who else would be willing to help him like this?

"What are your plans for the next month?" the senior asked. "Are you coming back for an internship during the winter break?"

He hoped the company's senior management would be sensible enough to beg Xiao Chao to stay.

"The company has extended my contract for another month, so I can be colleagues with you for another month." Chao Musheng poured a drink into his senior's cup. "I don't want to work during the winter break, I want to stay home with my family."

The senior stared at Chao Musheng's ruddy face, feeling envious. This was a textbook example of a sunny, youthful young man.

"So for the next month, our game team is saved again?" Lao Li took the drink bottle from Chao Musheng's hand, fawning, "Let me, let me, how can we let our Brother Chao do such rough work."

"Come, come, Brother Chao, eat some meat."

Chao Musheng looked at the heaping plate of food in his bowl and the three different flavored drinks in front of him: "..."

How did he, the youngest, become everyone's brother?

The colleagues in the game team were too enthusiastic. When Chao Musheng came out after dinner, he felt a bit stuffed.

He politely declined his colleagues' offers to see him off and walked along the road with his umbrella. Wan You's barbecue stall was already packed up, and the place where it used to be was empty.

Walking out of the alley, the ride-hailing app showed that there were still more than 20 passengers waiting in line for a car. He sighed helplessly.

After this month's internship, he would drive to work himself.

"Musheng."

A car stopped in front of him. Xu Chenzhu got out with an umbrella and walked up to him. "Waiting for a car?"

"Mr. Xu?" Chao Musheng was afraid the rainwater from his umbrella would drip onto Xu Chenzhu, so he closed it.

"Where are you going?" Xu Chenzhu moved the umbrella over his head and turned slightly to block the wind and rain for him.

"I'm going home." Chao Musheng saw the rain fall on Mr. Xu's shoulder, making his white shirt transparent.

"Get in, I'll give you a ride." Xu Chenzhu reached out and took Chao Musheng's arm, led him to the car door, and quickly let go. He took the closed umbrella from his hand and put it in the trunk. "Get in quickly, don't get wet."

Chao Musheng got into the car and moved inward, leaving the right side empty.

"Mr. Xu." When Xu Chenzhu came back after putting away the umbrella, Chao Musheng noticed that his clothes were mostly wet. "Do you want to change your clothes?"

"It's fine, there are no spare clothes in the car." Xu Chenzhu took the towel handed by the driver in front, took off his glasses, and casually wiped his wet hair. "It's not cold in this weather."

The semi-wet clothes clung to his chest, faintly revealing a strong chest and abdomen.

The driver in front silently threw the bag on the passenger seat under the seat. The bag fell over, revealing a corner of clothing.

He silently looked away, his eyes straight ahead, and raised the partition in the car.

Xu Chenzhu took off his tie and threw it aside, unbuttoned his wet collar, and a few strands of messy hair fell by his ear.

"What would you like to drink?" He bent down to open the car refrigerator and looked up at Chao Musheng.

Chao Musheng looked down and, following his open collar, saw the curve of his chest and abs.

Damn eyes, don't look!

Chao Musheng pretended to look away very casually. "I drank a lot of drinks at the dinner party tonight, so I can't drink anymore right now."

Mr. Xu's abs are really well-trained.

"Want some candy?"

It was an orange-flavored lollipop again.

"Thank you, Mr. Xu." Chao Musheng took the candy, unwrapped it, and put it directly into his mouth. The sweet orange flavor instantly enveloped him.

He couldn't help but turn to look at Xu Chenzhu again. The other man was rolling up his sleeves, and those few disobedient strands of hair fell on his eyelids.

Without his glasses, Mr. Xu was a bit more sharp and handsome than usual, revealing his assertiveness and aggressiveness at a glance.

"I heard someone from the film and television department came to trouble you?" Xu Chenzhu put his glasses back on, and when he looked at Chao Musheng, he had his usual elegant and gentle appearance. "I've already made arrangements, they won't dare to bother you again."

"It's not a big deal." Chao Musheng didn't expect this matter to reach Mr. Xu's ears. Recently, Manager Wang from the film and television department had come to see him twice, apologizing on behalf of an artist and hoping he would put in a good word for the artist when he got home. "It's just that I don't know much about my mother's work, so I can't help much."

Even if he could help, he didn't want to. He had seen all the comments online from the artist's fans cursing his mother.

Who would help an outsider who hurt their own mother? He wasn't a pushover.

"The film and television department has an improper work style, chaotic internal management, and some artists have personal moral issues. I have already arranged for a strict investigation." Xu Chenzhu said, "Lin Hui's matter has been clarified. He has personal moral failings in his relationships. It's his own fault that Shi Guang canceled their cooperation with him."

He handed his phone to Chao Musheng. "Five minutes ago, the film and television department officially issued an apology letter."

On the phone was a public apology letter issued by the film and television department's corporate management account, which detailed the various mistakes Lin Hui had made since he became famous, stating bluntly that he had personal moral failings.

The onlookers in the comments section were all shocked. They were used to seeing companies make all sorts of excuses to protect their artists, but this was the first time they had seen a company take the initiative to expose its own artist.

[Did everyone notice this sentence in the apology letter, "The company respects the artist's freedom of choice, but will never tolerate artists who violate laws and discipline or play with others' feelings"? This style of doing things is very much in line with my stereotype of Kunlun.]

[Hahahahaha, except for Lin Hui's fans who are still stubbornly trying to defend him, everyone else is laughing at the company's disdain for Lin Hui.]

[Kunlun Film and Television has been established for two years, right? It seems they haven't produced any influential works. I suspect the company is losing money to support this department every year.]

[No wonder Shi Guang canceled their cooperation with Lin Hui a while ago, and the fans went to curse the magazine's editor-in-chief. The magazine handled things gracefully and didn't say anything bad about Lin Hui even after being cursed for so long. The fans should hurry up and kowtow to them.]

Chao Musheng followed the comments to Shi Guang magazine's social account. As expected, the comments were all praising Shi Guang for being principled and not indulging a scumbag for money.

He silently liked a comment praising his mother, and only after liking it did he remember that this was Mr. Xu's phone. He quickly unliked it and returned the phone to Xu Chenzhu.

"It's okay, this is my personal account." Xu Chenzhu took the phone and re-liked the comment Chao Musheng had unliked.

Chao Musheng looked at the little red heart under the comment and couldn't help but smile at Xu Chenzhu, his eyes curving.

"After the software operation test is over, do you want to continue to stay in the software R&D department, or come to the president's office for a while?" Xu Chenzhu smelled the sweet orange fragrance in the air. "If you want to start a business in the future, you should be able to learn some useful things in the president's office."

With Chao Musheng's ability, staying in the software R&D team was no longer of much help to his personal improvement. The chip R&D center was a project between the company and the state, and entering it required signing many agreements, which was not conducive to Chao Musheng's future free development.

Chao Musheng couldn't help but ask, "Mr. Xu, are you trusting me a little too much?"

The president's office involved so many company internal business secrets. Was it really appropriate for an intern like him to be there?

"Kunlun is very large, it won't fall because of a few business secrets." Xu Chenzhu smiled faintly. "And... I believe you."

Chao Musheng's heart tickled. He touched his nose and turned to look at the water droplets on the car window.

Oh my, such straightforward trust made him a little shy.

The car stopped outside the residential area. Xu Chenzhu opened the car door, got out, and opened the umbrella, waiting for Chao Musheng to get out.

The large umbrella completely covered the car door, and Chao Musheng got out of the car without getting a single drop of rain on him.

Chao Musheng looked at his dry self, then at Xu Chenzhu's messy shirt. Having the boss open the car door and hold the umbrella for him, wasn't that a bit of a role reversal?

"This umbrella is big, take this one home." The still-warm umbrella handle was stuffed into Chao Musheng's hand. By the time he reacted, Xu Chenzhu had already bent down and gotten back into the car.

He looked at the marks left by the rain on the other's shirt and felt a sense of awe for Xu Chenzhu.

No wonder Kunlun is developing so well. The boss is so courteous to his subordinates in order to retain talent.

Is this the magnanimity and spirit of a big boss?

"Goodbye, Mr. Xu." He waved to the person in the car window.

"Hurry back, don't get caught in the rain."

He actively cared about his well-being, a good boss.

Watching Chao Musheng leave, Xu Chenzhu took off his glasses and stared blankly at Chao Musheng's somewhat blurry back in the rain.

Is the semi-hidden, semi-visible wet clothes seduction described in the book really effective?

"Not the one with the full upper body exposed, it's too straightforward and lacks aesthetic sense." Chao Yin was on the phone with a colleague. Seeing Chao Musheng return, she whispered, "Subtly revealing, subtly hidden is more attractive."

"Shengsheng, you're back?" Chao Yin hung up the phone. "Tomorrow is a day off, what are your plans?"

Chao Musheng shook his head. "I've been working overtime with the software R&D team and the game team for a week. I just want to lie in bed and go nowhere."

"Okay, your dad and I are going to the Song family tomorrow. You can order takeout for lunch tomorrow." Chao Yin was in a good mood, and even the mention of the Song family didn't affect her good mood.

Chao Musheng's tone paused slightly. "Mom, did you see the apology statement from Kunlun's film and television department?"

"I saw it." Chao Yin smiled. "In our industry, public opinion is very important. As soon as Kunlun Film and Television issued the statement, I got the news."

"It seems that Kunlun Film and Television's internal rectification is quite significant this time, to even issue such a statement." Chao Yin pushed the fruit plate on the table towards Chao Musheng. "I'm used to seeing companies being protective, but this is the first time I've seen a company attack its own artist from both sides."

As expected of the wealthy and powerful Kunlun, their style of doing things is frighteningly open.

"Well, maybe it's because the boss also dislikes the style of the film and television department." Chao Musheng picked up a piece of fruit and nibbled on it slowly. "At least Lin Hui's fans won't have the energy to continue cursing you."

"In our line of work, who doesn't get cursed?" Chao Yin didn't take this kind of thing to heart at all. "I remember two years ago when you finished your college entrance exam, a self-media outlet interviewed you, and many netizens in the comments praised you for being good-looking and said you should enter the entertainment industry."

"Netizens can like eighty handsome men and women in a day, can their words be taken seriously?" Chao Musheng was sure that if he really entered the entertainment industry, netizens would criticize him from head to toe.

He was greedy, playful, and liked to join in the fun. With such a personality, he couldn't make it in the entertainment industry.

"Tsk, who was it that screenshotted the netizens' comments and posted them on their Moments, narcissistically saying something like, 'Could I really make it in the entertainment industry?'" Chao Yin showed him no mercy. "Who was it?"

"I was young and ignorant back then." Chao Musheng's face turned red. "Besides, didn't I delete it shortly after posting it?"

Seventeen or eighteen is the age when you like to be praised and are narcissistic. There's no need to bring up such an embarrassing past.

It's not something to be proud of.

There were three days left until the end of the instance, and only five avatars were left in the player chat group.

The remaining players looked at the lit-up avatar of number 25 with mixed feelings. They didn't expect that number 25, the weakest, could last until now.

Ever since the last player's mission failed and they were erased, the mood in the group had been extremely low, and no one had spoken for two or three days.

Number 2 stood outside the door, watching the staff pack Lin Hui's personal belongings into a cardboard box, and pushed up the black-framed glasses on his nose.

"Without me and Lin Hui, you won't last long in the company either." Manager Wang walked out of the office with his personal belongings. Seeing number 2 standing in the hallway watching the show, he sneered, "Did you submit the evidence that I bullied employees to the higher-ups?"

"Brother Wang, I don't understand what you're saying." Number 2 smiled. "I hope Brother Wang has a smooth journey after leaving Kunlun and achieves new glory."

Manager Wang's face was ugly. Being publicly fired by Kunlun, how could he survive in the industry?

This dog was mocking him.

He never would have thought that the intern who looked honest and easy to bully would dare to backstab him.

Number 2 ignored Manager Wang's resentful gaze and turned to go to the staff canteen to "run into" Xiao Juan.

Seeing number 2, Xiao Juan said with annoyance, "I told you to stay away from me."

"If you really didn't want to cooperate with me, you could have used an NPC's hand to get rid of me long ago." Number 2 sat down next to her with his tray. "There's no need to spare my life."

"I spared your life because when I entered the first novice instance, you were the only one who extended a helping hand to me." Xiao Juan looked at number 2. "At that time, you liked to smile a lot and told me to call you Brother Qiang."

Number 2 was stunned.

He didn't like to remember himself when he first entered the instance, because at that time he was stupid, impulsive, and liked to be a do-gooder, and was almost killed by his teammates.

He didn't even remember helping Xiao Juan.

How ridiculous, that he was still alive today was because of his once foolish self.

The self he was unwilling to look back on, and even self-loathing.