Chapter 30 Bookstore

The radio in Broly's bookstore was playing "Open Door", and the dreamy jazz music echoed in every empty corner.

“Lately I dreamed”

“I had tasted”

“All life’s treasures”

As the music finished this sentence, in the boss's dull sight, the huge insect pupa slowly cracked open, and then a man in a swallowtail windbreaker and a red and black mask on his face "drilled" out of it, hanging upside down below the ceiling, motionless.

At some point he had taken the sketchbook and a ballpoint pen that the boss had placed on the counter.

The young boss was stunned for a moment, then forced a smile at him: "My dear, we are about to close the store."

"Oh...wait a minute, I'll be done soon, it'll only take a moment."

Black Pupa was hanging upside down, almost face to face with the boss. He spoke without raising his head, concentrating on drawing in the sketchbook with a ballpoint pen.

"OK."

The boss nodded, took a sip of coffee, and his reaction was surprisingly calm.

Black Pupa suddenly said, "By the way, Mr. 'Photo Retriever', I borrowed a copy of The Outsider from you before. It was on the fifth bookshelf from the left when I entered the store, but I put it back later... Yes, it was the book I read when he appeared on TV. Camus's writing style is indeed unique. I can understand the protagonist's feeling of not feeling any sadness at his mother's funeral even though his mother died... There's nothing I can do about it. The person who attended his mother's funeral was a fake person. My brother and sister cried so hard."

The boss couldn't understand what he was saying.

Amid the rustling sound of the ballpoint pen, Hei Pupa hummed a jazz tune and asked him, "Actually, what I want to say is... Sir, you shouldn't be angry that I borrowed the book without saying anything, right? If you are dissatisfied with this, next time I read a book in front of the camera of a reporter, I can promote your bookstore as compensation."

"As long as you leave your ID card and mobile phone number, you can borrow books here," said the young boss. "Don't feel guilty... At most, you just didn't go through the process. Sometimes I'm not that strict with customers."

Black Pupa nodded. "Okay, I heard from the neighbors nearby that you have a strange ability that allows you to find the location of 'real objects' through 'photos'. So when people lose something, they will bring photos to this bookstore and ask you to help them find it."

"That's right."

"That's great. Although I don't have a photo, I have the ability to draw very realistic pictures. Maybe you can use your special powers to help me find this little cutie in the picture, right?"

"I haven't tried to use my powers by 'drawing' yet...but I can give it a try."

"It's okay. My painting skills are about the same quality as the photo. I believe it will allow you to fully utilize your abilities."

Hei Pupa said this quite confidently, then turned the sketchbook over and faced the boss.

The boss squinted his eyes through his glasses and saw a little man that didn't quite look like a human being drawn on the sketchbook.

This painting reminded the boss of an essay he wrote in primary school, in which he described his classmate like this: "Her eyes are red, like small tomatoes; her hair is white, like a white radish; the sun above her head is red, like a big tomato."

Hei Pupa's exquisite painting skills almost completely reproduced the character descriptions in his elementary school essays. To say that his painting skills were like those of an elementary school student might be a bit insulting to elementary school students.

"Is this what you mean by... a painting technique that has the same texture as a photo... and is so realistic that it can be mistaken for a real one?"

The boss seemed to be hesitant to speak, pausing three times in a row.

"Yes, can you help me find the person in the painting?"

Hei Pupa tilted his head and squinted his eyes. Although no one could see his expression through the mask, his movements and expression always gave people a serious feeling.

"I'm sorry, but my ability can only be used on objects without signs of life, and it is limited to small objects with simple structures, and the range is limited... If it's a human, even if you give me a hundred photos, I can't find the other party's position, let alone this kind of 'fake' painting."

The boss explained calmly, "There's a reason why I was rated as a harmless mutant."

Hei Pupa became completely dejected. He hung upside down under the ceiling with his head drooped. He slowly turned his pen and then sighed.

He asked, "Okay, does it cost money to borrow your sketchbook and ballpoint pen?"

"It's free."

"Thank you sir, you are such a nice man."

Black Pupa nodded in greeting, then used the restraints to return the sketchbook and pen to the boss.

"You're welcome." The boss paused, "I'll charge you one dollar. My sketch is a bit old, and it will fall apart if I tear it. Your drawing has too high artistic value in my sketchbook... I want to tear it out separately for collection, but I can't."

"I understand. Only geniuses can appreciate the art of geniuses... just like Picasso."

Black Pupa talked to himself, rummaged through his windbreaker, took out a one-dollar coin from the pocket, and silently handed it to the boss with a restraint belt, "Tear off the painting boldly and keep it, sir."

"Thank you." The boss took the coin and put it in the cash register.

"You're welcome sir, you deserve it."

The black pupa was hanging upside down in the air, picking up a book from the bookshelf and reading it, speaking politely.

"So... I'm about to close in two minutes. What can I do for you?" asked the young boss.

"By the way... can you cooperate with me?" Hei Pu finally remembered why he came here. He raised his fingers wrapped in black leather gloves and circled them around his head. "Uh... cooperation means that I will help you promote the hardcover books in your store on TV. In return, you can occasionally help me find things, such as my razor. I am a very manly man. Every morning when I wake up, my face is covered with beard. It is very troublesome if I don't have a razor."

"Although I'm only 12 years old and haven't started growing a beard yet," he continued in his mind.

Seeing the other party was silent, Hei Pu continued, "Come on, how cool is this? In the next few scenes of murders in Lijing, you will see a person reading a hardcover book from your store while hanging upside down from the ceiling. This is more effective than any advertisement, and your store will definitely be a big hit."

"But I don't want the police to come to my house and ask about your whereabouts." The boss shook his head, "I also don't want people to say this is a 'curious psychology bookstore', so please don't help me with negative publicity."

"Okay..." Hei Pu hugged his shoulders and thought for a while, then said, "Considering your request, we can cooperate secretly. You can help me find things occasionally, and I will act as your private detective. If you suspect that your girlfriend is cheating on you in the future, you can come to me at any time. I promise to pack her and her son-of-a-bitch lover up and send them to you."

The boss smiled and said, "That sounds good."

"You have a good psychological quality. At first I thought you would be so scared by me that you couldn't speak."

"Maybe I've seen a lot of strange things since I was a child, so my emotions are naturally indifferent than others. Maybe this is a side effect of my supernatural powers."

"I see. Then it's more appropriate for us to stay together." Black Pupa said, "'Black Pupa', this is my name."

"You can just call me boss."

"So, we have reached a cooperative relationship?" Black Pupa asked tentatively.

"Who said it wasn't?" The boss smiled.

Hei Pupa raised his eyebrows, called up the [Character Development System] panel, and looked at the progress tasks. Currently, it still showed that his only superhuman collaborator was the alien "Blue Arc".

"Just now, I encountered a very sad thing." He closed the panel and muttered dejectedly.

The boss looked at the weirdo hanging upside down in the air and asked, "What's wrong?"

Black Pupa said seriously: "I just had a quarrel with my restraint belt because it said that you are a collaborator with no cooperation value. To be honest... I feel deeply sad for its superficiality, because I think from the bottom of my heart that you are a very useful collaborator, but it did not count you as part of our group."

He flipped through the pages of the book and said in a low voice: "I think this is a kind of... lack of perspective."

"That's very sad indeed."

The boss took a sip of hot coffee and didn't care.

"We have a curfew at home. If we don't go to bed on time, mommy will jump out of her grave and kick our asses, so I have to leave now. I hope we can see each other often in the future."

"Please."

The boss waved to him.

"Finally, I wanted to borrow this book, The Four-and-a-half Mythology Series, but I don't have an ID card or a mobile phone number... This is very sad. Not everyone has a place to stay in society. It's like the saying... what's it called? Children without umbrellas must run in the rain. Sometimes I really think that even borrowing a book requires carefulness. This world is really unfair."

Black Pupa was reading a book with his eyes lowered, while complaining to himself.

The boss didn't listen to a word, just said: "Please go ahead, no ID or mobile phone number is needed, just return it within a week."

"Okay, bye boss."

Hei Pupa closed the novel in his hand, put it in his pocket, and waved the restraints as if waving goodbye to him.

"Goodbye." said the boss.

The figure hanging upside down from the ceiling disappeared, the lights in the store suddenly went out, and then lit up again the next second.

The boss took a sip of coffee. It was a quiet night.

Five minutes later, at Gu Wenyu’s home in Guyimai Street District.

Ji Minghuan slumped over on the bed in the room, placed the novel he had just borrowed next to his pillow, and closed his eyes.

The restraints took off the black pupa mask and windbreaker for him like a personal maid, then changed him into pajamas and put the mask back to the bottom of the closet.

"I've been fooled... A cooperative relationship with a harmless-level psychic is not counted towards the progress of the training system. So how strong a person do you have to be in order to have it count towards the progress of the training system? Quasi-level, which is above the harmless level? Or even higher than that, the Kui level?"

As he was thinking, Ji Minghuan suddenly opened his eyes, called up the system panel, scrolled through it twice, and found the option of "complete split mode".

Without thinking, he turned on the button inside.

[The "complete split" mode has been turned on. After a one-hour loading period, your consciousness will take over the game character's body 24 hours a day, without the need to dream. ]

[The number of "game character perspectives" currently loaded is "one". ]

"This way, I can control the main body and the game character at the same time, but it will take an hour to see the effect."

Before going to bed, Ji Minghuan took another look at his [Roleplay Anchor Deviation]. His overly indulgent and violent behavior in Lijing Square yesterday had raised his "Roleplay Deviation" to a dangerous 42%, but it was slowly coming down today.

If the deviation reaches 70% or more, it will be dangerous. The game character may escape Ji Minghuan's control and go into a runaway state, so it must be treated with caution.

I hope my mentor will not let me down and provide me with more useful information. Thinking of this, Ji Minghuan closed his eyes again, put his arms behind his head and fell into a deep sleep.

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(End of this chapter)