Chapter 360 Safe House

[There are seventy-four monsters on the first floor of the orphanage, and they have all been packed up.]

[Brother Xu, shall we go to the second floor next? ]

Little Cubic Bone packed up the monsters properly. After that, it came to the dark hall of the orphanage to find Xu Zhiyan and excitedly handed him a small note.

“Well done!”

Xu Zhiyan is never stingy with praise.

The first floor is finished, it’s time for the second floor.

He stretched and gave a thumbs up to the Immaculate Mother who was holding a huge cross beside him.

"You've worked hard. Go back and rest first."

It's not that he didn't want to continue using the Immaculate Mother, but the entire orphanage, except for the hall on the first floor, was relatively narrow and not very suitable for large monsters to move around.

Unexpectedly, the monster with tears and blood in its eyes did not disappear on its own when it heard this. Instead, it walked towards the stairs.

Xu Zhiyan was stunned for a moment, then tried to comfort her in a gentle voice.

"It's not that I don't need you, it's just that the upstairs is too narrow and not suitable for you to move around. Next time when there's a wide area to fight, I'll definitely call you out first!"

Xiao Ke Gu also held up a notebook.

[I will assist Brother Xu in completing the rest of the work, so don't worry! ]

If other players saw one man and one monster trying to persuade the prop monster, they would definitely be shocked.

The item owner has absolute control over the item.

Except for some passive props, all the remaining props cannot refute the owner's orders even if humanoid monsters appear. Few people will communicate with the existence that they can fully control.

What's more, unlike ordinary monsters, most props are unconscious, and even if they do, they may not be able to communicate.

But Xu Zhiyan is different.

Perhaps it was because he dealt with the monsters in the safe house more often on weekdays, so unless it was necessary, he would try his best to make all the monsters act according to his own ideas, including the prop spirits.

Similar to the Human-Skin Buddha with a weak sense of self, the Immaculate Mother rarely moves freely even when she is released on weekdays. She just stands in the corner stupidly. After a long time, even the monsters in the safe house rarely pay attention to her.

Only Xu Zhiyan would greet it as usual and treat it the same as other monsters.

After all, in his concept, all those who make money for him and are useful to him are his own people. It’s just a few words, he won’t be so stingy.

After so many times, without any forced control, the Immaculate Mother began to occasionally respond to simple spoken instructions such as "go back", "go", and "stop".

This was the first time that the Immaculate Mother violated her spoken instructions.

Seeing that Xiao Cui Gu was a little nervous and writing quickly with his head down, Xu Zhiyan looked up at the Immaculate Mother standing at the stairs.

The statue of the Virgin Mary with tears of blood cried even louder. Although her face still had a calm and holy expression, the blood had soaked most of her clothes. The crowded staircase made her look even bigger.

All it takes is a thought to force the Immaculate Mother back to the cross.

But after hesitating for a moment, Xu Zhiyan sighed and compromised.

"Okay, okay! The reason I don't let you go up there is because I'm worried that you might damage the floor or the building upstairs, which might affect the integrity of the orphanage's recycling."

That’s right, Xu Zhiyan’s goal was not just to get rid of the monster, he didn’t even plan to let go of this piece of land.

"But compared to recycling this universal item of unknown level, I think your happiness is the most important thing. I'm glad you expressed your wishes. Also, next time if a monster makes you an invitation you don't like, remember to shake your head and refuse."

His tone was gentle, and he even encouraged the confused monster in front of him to think more.

The blood and tears stopped flowing.

The Immaculate Virgin said nothing. She turned around silently and squeezed her body into the not-so-spacious staircase.

Xu Zhiyan saw that the other party quickly ran away, but he still reminded him.

"If you see a living person who looks like a summoner, remember not to kill him!" It would be troublesome if the dying summoner was found and killed by the Immaculate Mother first.

[Brother Xu? Why don't you recycle the props? ]

Little Brittlebone was very puzzled by this. In its perception, nothing was more important than the interests of its owner. If it allowed the Immaculate Mother to go upstairs, there was a chance that the orphanage itself would be harmed.

It even substituted itself for a moment.

【The Immaculate Virgin would have no objection.】

If one day it encounters something that goes against Xu Zhiyan's interests, it doesn't mind being forcibly recycled.

Soon, Little Kegu received an expression that was somewhat pitying.

Xu Zhiyan reached out and patted Xiao Ke Gu's spine... It felt a little prickly, so he immediately retracted his hand with a sigh in his tone.

"Because you are one of us, we in the safe house never treat our own people unfairly." It is still uncertain whether this prop can be obtained smoothly. Of course, the Immaculate Mother is more important.

"And it can allow the item spirit, which has always had a weak consciousness, to make its own choices. Maybe it can be upgraded without external force."

Ever since he knew that the strange mask could be further upgraded, Xu Zhiyan’s mind has become much more active.

But he does not have any natural props like the Ghost Mask that have powerful independent thinking, and the props produced by the safe house are all programmed AI written later.

Xiao Cuigu was very moved after listening to it, and secretly made up his mind to work harder!

Suddenly, a shrill cry came from upstairs.

Along with the crying, the ground beneath the feet suddenly began to shake, and gravel and dust kept falling from the top of the head. The situation was very strange.

Xu Zhiyan didn't wait any longer and walked quickly towards the cracked stairs.

The second floor was in chaos.

The doors on both sides of the corridor were wide open, and the ground was littered with scraps of paper and broken glass, as well as small socks and clothes worn by children.

After taking a quick glance and finding no signs of the Immaculate Mother's activities, Xu Zhiyan continued walking upstairs.

The third floor is similar to the second floor and is also very messy.

Finally, Xu Zhiyan found the Immaculate Mother on the fourth floor of the orphanage.

Before he got close he was startled.

At this time, the statue of the Virgin Mary was completely soaked in blood. It embraced itself with its hands, and its expression was as sacred as ever. There were more than a dozen red blood lines spreading out from its sides, stretching outwards like an umbilical cord.

At the end of each blood line, there is a pure white child-like monster.

There are no eyes on their faces, which makes them look a little weird.

Besides that, every child had a smiling face.

As if he thought of something, Xu Zhiyan touched the cross around his neck, and sure enough, the information on it had increased.

There is an extra line in the introduction of the Immaculate Virgin.

[Weapon's built-in skill [Holy Child]]

[Skill name: Holy Child]

[Consumption: Mental Power (1 point)]

[Skill details: Our Lady of Mercy received a gift after rescuing the soul of an innocent child. After the soul regained its freedom, the child's body turned into a holy child, accompanying the Our Lady.]

[Note: It takes 1 point of spiritual power to summon a Saint Child. The Saint Child's existence time is six hours. You can dispatch him at will.]

"No wonder……"

Xu Zhiyan exclaimed.

The Virgin Mary gave birth to the Holy Child.

Due to her setting, the Immaculate Mother is particularly sensitive to the plight of children.

He asked why the Immaculate Mother would refute his instructions and why she wanted to go upstairs herself first. It turned out that there were many innocent children's souls trapped on the top floor of the orphanage.

Although he had thought that the Immaculate Virgin might be able to be upgraded, Xu Zhiyan actually knew very well in his heart that ordinary props did not even have a strong sense of self-awareness, and it would be difficult to do this unless the main system did it itself. Now it was an unexpected surprise.

After the skill was mastered, the blood color on the Immaculate Mother's body slowly faded, and the holy children gathered around the statue of the Mother.

This time, Xu Zhiyan didn't need to say anything, it quietly disappeared back into the cross.

Without the obstruction of the huge statue of the Virgin Mary, Xu Zhiyan caught a glimpse of white in the messy room, and what surprised him was that even though all the props had been taken back, there was still a faint smell of blood around.

After taking two steps forward, I finally saw what was in the corner.

It was a figure huddled in the corner.

Wait, this person doesn’t seem to be Ran Que?

Xu Zhiyan was very surprised to see the person who was obviously seriously injured and was breathing out more than breathing in.

"Why is it an old man?" There was a hint of disgust in his voice.

The man in a semi-comatose state looked very old, perhaps in his sixties or seventies. If one ignored the dirt and blood on his body, he looked more like a highly respected university professor.

Xu Zhiyan walked forward, squatted in front of the old man, and reached out to feel his breath.

Not dead, still breathing.

He reached out and patted the other person's wrinkled cheek, shouting, "Hey! Can you hear me? Wake up, do you know where Ran Que is?"

Seeing that patting didn't work, he shook the other person's shoulders.

In the end, it was Xiao Ke Gu who came over and fed the other person some cheap medicine, and finally pulled the man back from the brink of life and death.

Xu Zhiyan even muttered a few words to this.

"We still don't know if this old man is the one who killed the summoner. What if he is a killer? Can he pay for our medicine..."

Fortunately, the old man woke up quickly after taking the medicine.

"...Xu the Conman? Why is it you? Where is the Joker?" He spoke with a trembling voice, his whole body stiff from excessive blood loss.

Xu Zhiyan was very dissatisfied with this.

"Speak politely, old man. Who are you calling a profiteer?"

However, thanks to the other party's two sentences, he was almost certain of the old man's identity, and it was 99% likely that he was the summoner himself.

The image was unexpected, but considering that no one had told him whether the summoner was a man or a woman, old or young, it seemed acceptable... No, it was still hard to accept!

Seeing this, Xiao Cuigu took out some recovery medicine and handed it over.

But this time the old man didn't answer, he just shook his head slowly and heavily.

Xu Zhiyan didn't care, frowned and said: "This orphanage is your work, right? Can you evacuate it first? We can't contact the outside world."

The wounds on the summoner's body looked like knife and gunshot wounds, but the monsters in this orphanage all looked like children, especially on the fourth floor. There should only be trapped ghosts of children, which should not cause such injuries.

As if afraid that the summoner would become a riddle teller, Xu Zhiyan added another sentence.

"Regarding the Mimics, the last round of games, the Legacy, and so on, Joker and Xiaocai have already told me all the information after they came to me. They were very worried about your disappearance this time, so they came to me for help."

With just a few words, he sold out the clown and Dou Hongshan again.

The summoner looked stunned, then smiled.

"That's really, really great."

His severe injuries caused his body to continue to decay, and even his speech became very slow. He had to take a long breath after finishing each sentence, otherwise he would not have enough strength.

Xu Zhiyan was also a patient man and did not rush him, but he was surprised by the other party's next move.

The old man lifted up his shirt, revealing a palm-long scar on his sagging chest. He dug into the wound with his slightly trembling rough fingers, and finally took out a bird's egg.

"Please give Ran Que to Dou Hongshan."

He placed the blood-soaked bird egg on Xu Zhiyan's palm.

The summoner moved very slowly. Intense pain radiated from the gaping wound, tearing at his nerves. With no anesthetic, he could only grit his teeth and endure it.

"If I don't do this, I'm afraid it will be found."

This scene was so unexpected that Xu Zhiyan's hands were covered in blood before he could come to his senses. He lowered his head and saw a small bird egg quietly nestling in his palm.

Dou Hongshan said that Ran Que was just a summoned beast.

And this kind and weak man in front of him actually hid the tit egg in his body in order to save Ran Que.

Xu Zhiyan pursed his lips and said nothing.

Judging from the color of the decayed wound, the summoner had hidden the bird egg inside for some time. He didn't know what the other party's mentality would be when his flesh was cut open.

After doing all this, the summoner leaned his head against the wall, breathing heavily, and rested for a long time before continuing to speak.

"I'm sorry to make you laugh."

He talked about how he ended up in this situation.

"I shouldn't have believed in the main system, and I shouldn't have left my shell and come to the real world after noticing something unusual."

In the early hours of the morning, the summoner, who should have been asleep, was awakened by pain. Because of the incompatibility between his soul and his body, he was often in a daze and gave many inappropriate orders in confusion.

"They are from Utopia. I don't know how they got my coordinates."

He couldn't kill people at will in the shell, but because he sensed something unusual, he happened to come to the real world, which made it easier for the other party to take action.

"The first tit died there, and I was forced to take on a second body."

There is one body for each tit.

The once flock of tits is reduced to three…two.

But pain isn't all bad.

Because the body and soul were incompatible, and he had no other means, after being bewitched by the main system, the tit body was hinted.

Now with the death of the first titmouse, the summoner has regained consciousness.

"It seems a little late... but fortunately nothing serious has happened." The old man smiled bitterly and coughed lightly, then reached out and wiped the blood from his lips with his dirty sleeves.

"It was Xinan who showed up and saved me, but he seemed to realize something later..."

He closed his eyes, as if he didn't dare to recall.

"He killed the two remaining chickadees, saying they were contaminated."

Paranoid way of cleaning.

Completely disregarding the summoner's life or death.

"I saw with my own eyes that he dug out the black squares from the bodies of the other two tits, but he didn't notice that there was still an egg in my body. I guess the last egg is safe."

The old man smiled.

The wound on his chest was the response he took when he first noticed the abnormality in the main system.

"It has been with me long enough. It's time for it to be free."

When he heard the word "square", Xu Zhiyan subconsciously thought of Guimian's successor. Just after midnight and before the sun rose, Xinan dug out the square from the young man and wiped out the entire clan, not even leaving anyone related to him alive.

I guess the summoner doesn't know about this yet.

Looking at the other person's dying appearance, Xu Zhiyan sighed and said nothing more.

"And then? What happened to the orphanage?" he asked.

Speaking of this, the summoner lowered his head. His drooping head looked even more listless, and his voice was filled with pain.

"After he killed all my usable bodies, he ran off with the diamonds... I guess he wanted to kill me too, because the Utopia killer showed up later, and he was like a blind man."

The remaining body of the summoner was thrown to the killer. In order to protect himself and not to harm the children in the real orphanage, he had to use his most valuable props to bring this small copy to the world...

"This is the orphanage I funded. It's full of children. The youngest is only a few months old, and the oldest is no more than eleven or twelve years old."

The summoner sighed and stated his reasons.

"I'm old, not only physically, but mentally as well... ahem... if it were the last round of the game, I would have just saved the items to kill my enemies."

Looking up, his cloudy eyes were filled with complex emotions.

“I can’t make that decision right now.”

His tone was full of contradictions, just like his heart.

His original purpose was to select talented people for training and accomplish great things, but as time went on he could no longer find his original intention.

Xu Zhiyan's heart also turned cold as the summoner spoke.

"So this is a disposable prop? Well, oh well." The tone of regret and distress was evident in his words.

“…”

The summoner felt something was wrong, but couldn't put his finger on it.

Why did he say so many profound and tragic things, but the other party was more concerned about the fact that this prop was disposable and could not be recycled?

Taking a deep breath, the summoner did not show his surprise, but his expression became more amiable.

After hearing the whole story, Xu Zhiyan realized that the summoner was afraid to remove the item because he was worried about new killers coming. This was expected. It seemed that the other party planned to wait until other people in the dark alley realized something was wrong and came here before removing it.

He stood up, stretched, and said calmly: "Forget it, if there are no props, then there is no props. I can just let the clown and Xiaocai work to make up for my losses."

"Get up, I'll take you to find other people." Xu Zhiyan said.

However, just as he reached out his hand to the summoner, wanting to pull him up, the summoner declined again.

"Don't save me. I don't have many days left to live. And judging from Xinan's performance, I'm afraid the main system has secretly implanted a control cube into my body... After returning to this body, I remembered a lot of things."

He remembered that he was controlled by the main system, stroking the child's head at night like a zombie.

"I dare not think what the deep meaning of this action is."

Perhaps when the Summoner first established the Dark Alley, he still had great ambitions and ideas, hoping to defeat the Mimic with a human body.

But after going through more things, and even being secretly controlled by the main system, his ambitions were shattered, his edges were smoothed out, and the heavy blow given by reality was too much for him to bear.

After explaining everything, the summoner smiled miserably, his cloudy eyeballs moving slowly in his sockets.

"Xu Zhiyan, are you willing to inherit my property?"

"I own a lot of institutions and companies. If you are willing to help me take care of these homeless children affected by the Mimics, I will give you all my money."

He said it quite sincerely.

"You can sign a contract with me. You write the contract."

But Xu Zhiyan is a cautious businessman.

"Why not leave it to the Joker or Dou Hongshan, but leave it to me, an outsider?"

Although Xu Zhiyan's money radar went up when he heard the word "property" and he wanted to agree on the spot, there were still many strange things about it.

The old man coughed up blood again.

"Those two kids are shy and dull, and have no talent for business. I'm worried they'll starve to death."

He skillfully used the technique of praising one while putting one down, and while belittling the Joker and Dou Hongshan, he secretly praised Xu Zhiyan.

"But my original plan was to wait for the Joker to come and then entrust everything to him... But I was lucky that I met you before I died."

"No one is more suitable than you to take over the company. You are the best candidate."

That's true.

The Joker and Dou Hongshan are both on the Utopia's kill list. The rest of the new generation of forces that have not yet been fully trained are in danger of losing their jobs, let alone making time to manage the industry.

But Xu Zhiyan is different.

He is an honest and mature businessman. His image in the dungeon has been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people for a long time, not to mention that he has powerful weapons to support him.

No matter from which angle you look at it, Xu Zhiyan is the best candidate to take over the property.

Before Xu Zhiyan could ask anything else, the summoner suddenly twitched and looked like he was about to die.

"A dead...dead person cannot sign a...contract."

The situation became urgent.

Xu Zhiyan didn't expect the summoner's condition to be so bad, he was really on the verge of death, and he firmly refused to use medicine. Since he was the controller of this copy, he firmly refused, and others actually had no way to do it unless they forcibly broke the copy.

"Are you sure I'm just helping you raise your child?"

Xu Zhiyan raised his eyebrows and asked.

Putting aside the fact that the summoner is actually a real philanthropist, the overall expenditure is actually not that large.

Compared with the monsters he had taken away and the skills that the Immaculate Mother had just learned, even if he had to spend all of them, he could do it easily with his current financial resources without any burden.

He even made a worst-case estimate of his assets.

The worst that can happen is that the summoner has little wealth, but if these people are supported by him, they will definitely give him feedback when choosing a career in the future.

The most important thing is that he currently has no worldly industry. If he has the summoner's industry as a foundation, then the follow-up will help him quickly build assets in the world. Even if some companies are losing money, it is not a big deal. If he finds the right way, he can quickly turn losses into profits and save the time of setting up his own company. What a loyal employee he must be to be able to work diligently during the trough period.

Good performance means money, and poor performance means loyal employees. So when you think about it this way, you're not losing out no matter how you look at it.

"make a deal."

After careful consideration, Xu Zhiyan agreed to the deal.

"Even if you have no assets, I will do my best to help these orphans." He spoke in a gentle voice, as if he had no other ulterior motives.

The orphan was successfully entrusted to the care of the summoner, who revealed a relieved smile. Considering what he had done before, this thin and old human actually seemed to have some great love in him.

If it was really handed over to Joker and Dou Hongshan, I'm afraid half of these orphans would starve to death. But if Xu Zhiyan took over...

The contract was signed quickly. At the end, the summoner had no strength left, so he chose to dip his finger in blood and press his fingerprint on it.

Xu Zhiyan looked at the freshly-made contract, feeling unspeakable.

What happened today was indeed beyond his expectations.

The ceiling of the orphanage began to crack.

After the summoner's life comes to an end, this scene can no longer be maintained and enters the collapse stage.

Xu Zhiyan stood straight, looking at the old man in the corner who was about to take his last breath.

Just before the last piece of the wall fell, the old summoner suddenly raised his head, tears in his eyes, and spoke with his last bit of strength.

"I'll leave the children and...my debt to you."

After saying this, he tilted his head and died.

"Debt...debt?"

Xu Zhiyan was horrified.

He didn't care where he was after the props in the orphanage were removed, nor did he have time to feel sad. He lowered his head and checked the panel and mobile phone the first thing he did.

Text messages poured in like crazy and notifications kept popping up.

No more, no less, all of them are debt collectors.

Just a quick glance and a rough estimate shows that this old man's company in the real world owes hundreds of millions of dollars, and he has also borrowed tens of millions from the main system in the game...

Looking at the dead old man, Xu Zhiyan's hands and feet were cold.

Damn it! He shouldn't have trusted this old guy!

He didn't care about the company's losses. According to the exchange rate between real currency and points, 100 million cash was only worth 5 million points, which was only one or two days' turnover for the safe house that had already been flooded with orders.

But what the hell is a main system loan? How can a normal person borrow money from the main system? Who would have thought of this!

"Damn it, why didn't Mad Dog kill you with one blow!"

His blood boiled and he stared at the hunched over body of the old man for a long time, so long that the phone beside him kept buzzing but he didn't answer it.

After thinking for half an hour, Xu Zhiyan finally took out his cell phone.

He first sent a message to the Joker and Dou Hongshan, saying that the situation had changed and asked the two to stay where they were to avoid being disturbed.

Then he quickly opened the dialog box with Jiang Huaique, his fingers clacking so fast that sparks were almost coming out, and edited the message and sent it out.

[Godfather, the coordinates are at Xiwenyun Orphanage, come quickly, remember to drive here, and bring a larger sack.]

The props have been removed and Xiao Cui Gu can't get out. It would be a bit inappropriate for him to go back and cause trouble, and it would easily alert others. Jiang Huaique would definitely come over immediately after hearing the word "adoptive father".

As for the sacks...

He wanted to bring the summoner's body back to the safe house and see if he could get the ghosts to turn this old man into an undead creature to work for him in the safe house to pay off his debts.

He will squeeze all the debts, including the expenses of raising the summoner's children, out of him!