Chapter 19 The Infinite Boss Invites You to "Eat Melon" 19. It's B...

Because of his dawdling in the morning and the need to replace his SIM card, Lu Yu didn't arrive at the music festival until after 10 a.m. Even that was considered early.

The music festival is mainly busy in the afternoon and evening. There's not much to do in the morning, and everyone is uniformly late. Even those who arrive early are just slacking off. The backstage area is filled with various snoring sounds and game sound effects.

Lu Yu had a relatively smooth morning, encountering no players or strange occurrences on his way there. But things got even more interesting at the music festival; even Gao Gan and Bao Xiaoqi became well-behaved.

He swaggered past them with his work badge on, and they didn't dare to look at him twice. Some even avoided him as if they were still scared. In the 30-degree weather, each of them was wearing a thick pair of gloves.

It's obvious that someone gave them a heads-up, and they realized they were being used and almost lost their lives.

For the next day and night, everything around Lu Yu was unbelievably calm. It was as if all the players had retreated and given up overnight.

But will that really be the case?

Lu Yu didn't think so.

Last night, one player got stuck in the Dawn and Dusk Apartments, but while other players might become more vigilant and cautious, they would never be so cowardly as to retreat and give up. If they were truly so timid and so easily discouraged, how could they possibly have conquered each dungeon and become S-rank players?

Lu Yu is not afraid of players, but he will not underestimate them either.

The temporary peace we enjoy now only foreshadows even greater storms to come.

As it turns out, Lu Yu's concerns were not unfounded.

After an eerily calm second day, Lu Yu received devastating news the moment he opened his eyes on the third morning.

Boss: [Old Lu, starting today, Gao Gan and Bao Xiaoqi won't be with you anymore. Pick someone else from the operations department to go to the music festival with you guys.]

Lu Yu's foggy thoughts cleared up instantly upon waking. He stared at the message for a while, then replied: "[They resigned too?]"

"Don't talk nonsense. With such good benefits in our company, how could they possibly resign?" the boss said. "They came over early this morning saying they wanted to be transferred, that they felt they couldn't handle the hard work in the operations department, and volunteered to take a pay cut to become cleaning interns, only 800 yuan a month each!"

Look at this! This spirit of dedication to the company is something you should all learn from!

Lu Yu: "..."

【receive. 】

Lu Yu gave a perfunctory reply, showing no intention of calling Gao Gan and Bao Xiaoqi back. Since the players were determined to make their move, there was no room for maneuver.

The gossip-eating system issued a reminder: [Host...]

"I see."

As Lu Yu packed his things and stepped out of the Morning Dusk Apartment, he said, "Getting Gao Gan and Bao Xiaoqi out of the music festival field work means that from today onwards, the music festival venue will no longer be a cross-scene instance. S-level players will not be restricted and can enter freely."

"After a day of initial probing and a day of observation and preparation, two days have passed, and now they are finally ready to make their move."

The "Gossip System": [Host, please be extremely careful. The S-rank players haven't shown up for a whole day and night; they must be brewing a huge conspiracy.]

"Don't worry. Any conspiracy fears being exposed." Lu Yu said calmly.

The morning was peaceful as usual.

Lu Yu first took the subway to the company to pick up some things, and then hitched a ride with a colleague who had just joined the field team, and they went to the music festival together.

The scene was no different from the previous two days. Lu Yu went backstage to find a portable toilet, took a paid break for half an hour, and then, wearing a paper name tag, squatted in the shed reading novels, playing games, and chatting with people, looking completely addicted to his phone.

In the afternoon, Lu Yu began leading his team to work, taking photos around with his camera and occasionally bending down to edit the manuscript.

As the start time approached, the number of people backstage increased, and a large crowd of spectators gathered on the lawn outside, creating a noisy and chaotic scene.

Lu Yu walked along the edge of the crowd, seemingly completely absorbed in his work, oblivious to the fact that his name tag had slipped out of his shirt collar and was exposed.

"At the three o'clock position, the Boss has moved again, seemingly heading towards the stage area..."

"The stage area has been evacuated. The search has been completed, and nothing was found."

"The equipment area has been searched; nothing was found."

"The back area has strict security measures and is crowded. Entry is temporarily prohibited. Requesting backup..."

Lin Xiaoman, sporting a trendy music festival makeup look that obscured her original appearance, queued for ticket verification to enter the venue while receiving reports from her teammates and partners.

Yes, partners.

After witnessing Lu Yu's terrifying power on their first night, the S-rank players were quite frightened. However, it was impossible for them to be scared away so easily. But continuing to charge in as a team would also make them seem somewhat foolish. Therefore, as a precaution, they began to seek cooperation and mutual benefit.

Lin Xiaoman and Jiang Yan formed an alliance, while Ji Chengchuan and the Dream Catcher teamed up. The Blade Emperor, who had been slacking off and had suffered a setback on the first day, was reluctant to participate further, but for some reason, he was persuaded by Ji Chengchuan and joined Ji Chengchuan's team.

Of the six teams, five split into two groups, leaving only Pei Yanzhi, who remained isolated and working alone.

"Wait a moment in the backstage area, I'll have Mai Dadan transform into an animal and go over to provide support," Lin Xiaoman whispered.

Based on the progress of the exploration mission, each player team received a different number of exploration points. After Lin Xiaoman and Jiang Yan merged, they shared the exploration points, totaling sixteen points, which is quite a lot. However, they still need to be careful with their spending, as the story mission has only just begun and it is unknown how many points they will need in the future.

Therefore, using abandoned artifacts that can be disconnected from their masters to explore the fragments of divinity from a distance remains the mainstream practice of their team.

Yesterday, a day and a night passed, and most teams remained silent. Firstly, the initial exploration was over, and they needed to analyze and summarize the clues. Secondly, the Boss was really not to be trifled with, and if they approached rashly, something unexpected might happen, so they had to be fully prepared. Thirdly, they were discussing and arranging the use of the exploration points.

At least in the extremely dangerous Dawn and Dusk Apartments, no one dared to personally climb out of Lu Yu's window anymore; they had to use exploration points to verify it.

Other areas will be arranged by each team.

Of course, these exploration points can't be used at will. Players must enter the current area to verify whether there are any divine fragments in that area.

In other words, to verify whether there are any fragments of divinity in the Dawn and Dusk Apartments, someone must enter the Dawn and Dusk Apartments.

As for Lin Xiaoman and Jiang Yan, Liu Xian successfully infiltrated the Morning and Evening Apartments last night. He didn't approach Building 13, but only used exploration points near the main gate of the complex to verify that no divine fragments existed in the Morning and Evening Apartments.

Lu Yu was resting at home at the time, which indirectly proves that the work badges that the S-level players tentatively chased were not fragments of divine power, but most likely a deliberate prank by the Boss after discovering them. This also aligns with Jiang Yan and Lin Xiaoman's summary of the first round of probing.

Next, for the second point of exploration, they contacted Gao Gan and Bao Xiaoqi and used various means to transfer them away, making the music festival venue an open space again. Then, they sent people in early in the morning to verify the information.

Then came the reward: the exploration point indicated that the Divine Shard was located in this area.

"They really were at the music festival..."

Lin Xiaoman was somewhat surprised when she found out, but not entirely unexpected.

The Boss can't fuse the divine fragments with just one contact; it requires four days and multiple contacts. Based on Lu Yu's itinerary over the past four days, the divine fragments could only appear in a few places. The music festival venue is one of the most likely locations.

After confirming the existence of the divine fragments, Lin Xiaoman immediately began making arrangements to fully enter the music festival venue.

But Jiang Yan stopped her: "Our main goal is to find the fragments of the divine essence. Our secondary goal is to probe the Boss's situation while ensuring our own safety, and ideally find his weakness. All of this depends on secrecy, so I suggest we use a feint to deceive the enemy and launch a diversionary attack."

"A feint attack, a diversionary tactic?"

Lin Xiaoman seemed to understand something.

Thus, the current arrangement came about.

Lin Xiaoman and another teammate did not hide their identities, only slightly concealing their original appearances with makeup, and entered the music festival as ordinary audience members.

This state of being disguised but not completely hidden is their bait placed in the open. As long as the Boss knows and pays attention to the players as they guess, they will most likely be able to see their identities and focus most of their attention on them.

Meanwhile, Jiang Yan and Lao Bai hid in the shadows, using strange objects and special methods to infiltrate various areas, conduct investigations, and search for fragments of the divine essence.

Liu Xian, who can bring up to two more people to remain invisible, and Mai Dadan, who can transform into any animal, serve as the mobile unit, completely hidden and taking no action, only responsible for supporting the two in the open or the two in the shadows.

The two teams merged, totaling six people, and split into three groups. As soon as ticket checking began at 2 p.m., they extended rapidly into the music festival venue like invisible tentacles.

"Are there still no signs of Ji Chengchuan and Pei Yanzhi?" Lin Xiaoman asked in a low voice as she strolled around the support merchandise stalls, seemingly interested, after entering the venue.

“Ji Chengchuan and his three teams have a total of nine people left, so they can’t hide anymore,” Jiang Yan said. “Lao Bai and Liu Xian have already been monitoring some of them, and their main force is at the music festival, but we haven’t seen Ji Chengchuan himself yet. That’s normal. Ji Chengchuan seems arrogant and cocky, but in reality, he’s not much bolder than Liu Xian. He lets the people around him do all the risky things, but when it’s his turn, he’s extremely cautious, comparable to the ‘Dream Catcher’ who has only shown his true form a few times.”

"As for Pei Yanzhi, he hasn't shown up yet, and his three teammates are still playing games at the internet cafe."

Lin Xiaoman: "..."

When she learned that Pei Yanzhi's teammates had spent two days playing games at an internet cafe, she seriously suspected that it wasn't the Blade Emperor who wanted to give up, but this Realm Lord.

Lin Xiaoman was so impressed that Jiang Yan had figured out the general situation of the other teams so quickly that she wanted to give her a thumbs up from afar.

Liu Xian always says that their team is just an ordinary S-class team, and apart from Jiang Yan, they don't have much combat power. But anyone who runs into them knows that, apart from Pei Yanzhi, who dares to say they can easily defeat Jiang Yan's team?

"Mr. Lu, if you need to use it, you can reserve a spot here. It's such a big space."

On a folding choir stage used for photography, the head of the photography team checked the equipment's condition while speaking to Lu Yu, who was holding a camera nearby.

"No need," Lu Yu put down his camera and smiled gratefully. "I need to go to the stage area when the show starts. I'll come back if I need anything. It won't bother you."

"What's the problem? Come on, bring it on," the team leader said with a smile.

Lu Yu jumped down with his camera slung over his shoulder, looking through the photos on the camera as he walked forward.

"The boss should have noticed me by now," Lin Xiaoman whispered.

“It’s time to show your ‘intentions’,” Jiang Yan said.

Lin Xiaoman smiled, lowered her head slightly, squeezed into the crowd, and moved like a fish, approaching Lu Yu, her eyes frequently scanning his back and the name tag on his chest.

Lu Yu glanced back, as if he had noticed something, stuffed his work badge into his shirt jacket, and quickly disappeared deeper into the crowd.

Lin Xiaoman gave an order to her teammate Niu Duoduo, and the two of them flanked Lu Yu, closing in on him and making a show of being determined to get his work badge, trying to attract Lu Yu's full attention.

The two chased each other, one hiding and the other running around in circles in the huge music festival venue.

During the process, Lin Xiaoman used the excuse of making games to bribe some viewers to travel around with her, creating the impression that there were many players and that they were besieging her, thus confusing the public.

For a moment, Lu Yu seemed to have truly become a fish in a net, either to be caught by them or to stop hiding, turn around and show his fangs, and devour them.

But regardless of the method, Lin Xiaoman and her team did not intend to truly confront the boss. Their focus was on reconnaissance from the shadows and probing the boss with feints; they had no intention of starting the actual boss battle right now.

Time passed gradually.

“Backstage Area 1 search completed, nothing found…Backstage Area 2 search completed, nothing found…Backstage Area 3…” Mai Dadan’s voice came through the earpiece from time to time.

The two-pronged operation, one overt and one covert, proceeded smoothly.

The music festival venue was huge, and they didn't know exactly where the divine fragments were, but they still had plenty of time.

It was already dark when the lights came on, creating a dim, yellowish atmosphere.

The music festival had been going on for a while. The singer on stage had just finished performing a rock song and was giving a speech, seemingly during an interactive segment. The area around the stage was teeming with people, all shouting excitedly.

Lin Xiaoman also squeezed in front of the stage. It was too noisy nearby, and she couldn't hear the sound in her headphones very well. They had switched to text communication, and she occasionally had to look down to look.

With that one glance down, Lin Xiaoman looked up and found that Lu Yu, who had been standing not far ahead, had suddenly disappeared.

Lin Xiaoman's heart skipped a beat, and she immediately pressed the emergency number, which meant: "The Boss is missing!"

The moment her finger moved, a beam of light suddenly fell, striking her squarely.

Lin Xiaoman had no time to dodge. She only squinted her eyes subconsciously and heard screams mixed with disappointed hisses from all around her.

Let's congratulate these lucky viewers!

The singer's excited shouts blared from the speakers, making people's eardrums tingle.

Lin Xiaoman stared in astonishment.

At the same time, the other spotlights near the stage also turned on, shooting out beams of light to illuminate the areas around the stage.

In those bright lights, Lin Xiaoman saw one familiar face after another, even though they were disguised.

Niu Duoduo, Jiang Yan, Lao Bai, "Sleepyhead", "Severed Hand", "Starry Sky Apostle"...

It can be said that, apart from the invisible Liu Xian, Mai Dadan who has transformed into who knows what, Ji Chengchuan who never easily reveals himself, and the Dream Catcher, their five teams were almost completely wiped out and trapped within beams of bright light.

Caught off guard and squeezed into the crowd, they had to abide by the common sense rules of Earth, unable to use most of their strange objects and special abilities, and were forced to appear under the spotlight, under the scrutiny of everyone.

A powerful rock blast erupted, and a pink-haired singer laughed and waved on stage: "Everyone, what are you waiting for? Come on stage! Let's rock out together!"

"Ooh ooh ooh!"

Cheers and shouts erupted all around.

The players froze, wanting to avoid the situation but not daring to show any obvious abnormality in such a setting. They could only be pushed onto the stage by the surrounding audience, who jeering them.

As Lin Xiaoman was being swept forward by the lights and the crowd, she glanced back as if she were aware of something.

That was the control room, which was some distance from the stage. It was very dark because of the dim lighting nearby and the darkness of night.

Lu Yu appeared in the darkness at some point.

He was wearing headphones, propped up on his long legs, leaning against the lighting crew, looking towards the stage and at all the players trapped by the bright lights. His eyes, hidden behind his glasses, were dark and deep, like the deep sea that had swallowed countless storms.

"It's the Boss!"

Lin Xiaoman's glance back caught the players' attention, and as they followed her gaze, their pupils constricted.

Almost simultaneously, Lu Yu slowly curled the corners of his mouth at them and uttered four silent words: "One warning."

A note from the author:

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