Chapter 41 The Infinite Boss Invites You to "Eat Melon" 41. Bookkeeping...

"That's quite a big wound," Pei Yanzhi said with a smile. "Will blowing on it make it stop hurting?"

"We might need to kiss," Lu Yu said earnestly, giving his diagnosis.

"That won't work."

“Yan Zhi…” Lu Yu spoke, his voice sexy and gentle, only calling his name. A pair of deep black eyes appeared above his glasses, locking onto him firmly, like a black sun suspended in the universe, not dazzling, but extremely scorching.

Looking into those eyes too closely always made Pei Yanzhi's heart tremble for no reason.

His lower back felt numb, and his Adam's apple bobbed repeatedly before he finally whispered, "Three more days."

With a slight lift of his eyelids, Pei Yanzhi glanced at his teammates not far away, who appeared to be focused on their own thoughts but were probably secretly watching the drama unfold. He said, "Can we put it on my tab? I'll pay you back in three days when we get back to China, okay? Even if it's more..."

He slightly raised his gaze, which fell into Lu Yu's eyes. They met eyes for a moment, and then, like a raindrop suddenly falling, his gaze swept across the man's nose, lips, chin, Adam's apple, collarbone, chest, and even... further down.

"Either is fine."

The young man exhaled softly, his eyes shimmering with light: "I'm willing to do anything, as long as it's you."

Perhaps it was the dampness and heaviness of the rainforest in the afternoon that made Lu Yu's breathing become even more labored. He wanted to disregard everything, break through the spatial barrier, press Pei Yanzhi against that thick giant tree, lift him up, kiss and bite him, so that Pei Yanzhi could only utter muffled breaths.

But he couldn't.

Even when Pei Yanzhi was conscious, he might still be resisting his intimacy. The spatial barrier he deliberately erected was always thicker than his own.

We'll have to wait a little longer.

Lu Yu closed his eyes, took a deep breath of the cool, gentle scent of youth through the mixed smells around him, then straightened his back and slowly took half a step back: "Okay, you agreed."

"I promised."

Pei Yanzhi smiled, seemingly unaware of what he had agreed to, or perhaps fully aware but fearless.

"Ahem," a dry cough came from behind. "Captain, Boss Lu, we've been stuck in the Stone Statue Forest for over an hour. If we don't leave soon..."

While absence makes the heart grow fonder, is half an hour really a short separation? If they weren't still there, wouldn't things have escalated to the point of a passionate affair?

Xiaoqian secretly grumbled to herself.

Pei Yanzhi knew his teammate too well. As soon as he saw Xiao Qian's eyes darting around, he knew what she was thinking. He glanced at her with a half-smile, but didn't take it to heart. He simply said, "Let's talk about something serious, and then we'll get going."

Xiaoqian and the others immediately came over.

“It seems you’ve all noticed that I was suddenly matched into a dungeon,” Pei Yanzhi said. “The dungeon I went to is ‘Godfall Ruins,’ located in the central area.”

"The ruins of a fallen god?" Lu Yu's brows twitched slightly.

“Yes, it’s that ruins of the fallen god.” Pei Yanzhi looked at Lu Yu.

They had briefly discussed the Godfall Ruins instance because of the divine fragment Pei Yanzhi had obtained. Although Lu Yu had regained his memories and had the "gossip system" entry, his understanding of the Godfall Ruins was actually not as extensive as Pei Yanzhi's. Even though this entire instance was born from his battle with Smiling Game five years ago.

"When I got there, I felt that the surrounding vegetation and climate were quite similar to those of Heroland Island, so I tried using an exploration point. Afterwards, the exploration point indicated that there were awakened god fragments within the instance." Pei Yanzhi succinctly explained the current situation of the Godfall Ruins and his experience in this instance, finally pointing out the key point.

"Fragments of divine essence?!"

Wang Kun and others looked pleasantly surprised.

Lu Yu, however, felt something was amiss.

If the fragment is inside the instance, Pei Yanzhi should be able to find it easily given his spatial abilities and the amount of artifacts he possesses. And if he had truly found the divine fragment, his reaction upon returning would certainly not be the same as it is now.

Soon, Wang Kun and the others also realized this, and their smiles froze: "Captain, that divine fragment... we didn't find it?"

“Yes,” Pei Yanzhi frowned slightly, “I searched almost the entire central area of ​​the Godfall Ruins, but I couldn’t find any items that looked like fragments of a god. That’s what I find strange.”

"There isn't any?" Wang Kun and the others' expressions changed slightly.

Suddenly, Xiao Wan seemed to realize something and frowned, saying, "Wait a minute, Captain, did you just say that the Divine Shard is in the dungeon?"

"But didn't Smile Games say before that all the god fragments in the dungeon have been found, and the rest are scattered throughout the game world? So, the story quest can only officially begin after the 'Fool's Kingdom' map is opened? So now..."

Before Pei Yanzhi could answer, Wang Kun shook his head and said, "That's hard to say. The situation back then was the situation back then, and the situation now is the situation now. When a divine fragment awakens, it will move and actively approach Boss Lu. It won't stay in its original position. It might have been outside the instance before, but now it's inside the instance."

Xiaoqian immediately realized, "Oh, so the Godfall Ruins instance is actually near Heroland Island? And this statue's appearance here isn't a coincidence..."

Lu Yu then went straight to the point: "Is the exploration point credible?"

“It’s credible,” Pei Yanzhi gave an affirmative answer. “Exploration points are part of the game rules, something that Smile Game itself must follow and cannot tamper with. If Smile Game wanted to manipulate this, it could only resort to some indirect methods; it has no direct way to change the rules themselves.”

"To be clear, if the exploration point detected fragments of awakened deities in the ruins of the fallen gods, then it is indeed true."

Lu Yu lowered his eyes in deep thought.

After a moment of silence, Lu Yu suddenly said, "How about we go in and look again?"

Pei Yanzhi looked up.

Lu Yu said calmly, "When you were searching, you must have been worried about my place. Your spatial power wasn't precise enough, so you might not have been able to find it thoroughly. Now that we've confirmed the fragment is inside, let's go in again and search carefully, digging three feet into the ground. We've finally found a clue, so we can't just let it go."

Pei Yanzhi said, "I left spatial coordinates before I cleared the level, but I can't sense them anymore after I came out..."

"Perhaps we can use this stone statue."

Lu Yu looked into the tree hole. "From what I can sense, this stone statue can open a spatial passage. The other end of the passage is the instance you've been matched into. Its sudden opening and matching are not accidental; they are related to Ji Chengchuan. Ji Chengchuan likely possesses a second special ability, which allows him to initially control the instance to some extent."

"Control the instance?" Wang Kun and the others were stunned. "Is this an ability that players can obtain? Or is it a second ability...?"

When they first heard this, they looked at each other in disbelief, even more shocked than when they learned that Pei Yanzhi had found a fragment of divine power just by entering a dungeon.

Pei Yanzhi wasn't too surprised.

He had tried to kill Ji Chengchuan many times, but whether it was due to his own contamination flaring up or something else, he had failed every time. No one knew Ji Chengchuan's strangeness better than him.

“I see,” Pei Yanzhi chuckled in realization, “The control of the copy… with such a special ability, many things from before are no longer surprising.”

"As for entering the Ruins of the Fallen Gods," he slightly raised his finger, covered the tree hole statue with spatial power, and carefully sensed it, saying, "If this spatial passage can be opened, I am confident that I can activate the spatial coordinates left in the instance and teleport everyone there."

But now is clearly not a good time.

But if they wait any longer, they fear that things might go wrong and the news might leak out.

“Let’s do it tonight,” Lu Yu, as the owner of the divine fragment, finally decided. “We’ll come back tonight and search inside. There’s no time to spare this afternoon, and Ji Chengchuan doesn’t have any spatial experts, so it should be fine.”

“Alright,” Pei Yanzhi agreed.

Whether it's gathering reliable personnel or making preparations, it all takes time.

“Let’s leave it at that for now and head back,” Pei Yanzhi said. “If we delay any longer, the rescue team might come in looking for us.”

With the two leaders giving their orders, Xiaoqian and the others naturally had no objections. They followed the original plan, returning to the rainforest in the same way they had come, and trailing far behind the two leaders.

After they disappeared, Lu Yu and Pei Yanzhi made some quick preparations and then woke up the guide and three colleagues. The unconsciousness caused by the strange creature had already been eliminated by Lu Yu, and the four of them were fine. However, they were all very surprised that they had fallen asleep without realizing it, and slept for so long.

"It must be because we got up too early today and haven't adjusted to the time difference yet. We went out hiking and exploring, and we must be exhausted..." Lu Yu didn't need to explain further; his colleagues had already come up with a reasonable excuse.

As for the guide, he seemed to attribute this unusually long sleep to some mysterious force. He pulled red paint from his pocket, smeared it on his face, and then performed a very strange dance around some of the stone statues in the forest. Finally, he ended the dance with a devout bow and led them on their way.

A colleague, out of curiosity, went over to ask what was going on, but the guide remained tight-lipped and refused to answer. The colleague, however, became excited and chattered excitedly with the guide about local ancient folk tales.

Lu Yu listened half-heartedly, secretly cheating with Pei Yanzhi by using spatial power to clear the path ahead and speed up the expedition team.

Because the second checkpoint took too long, the guide shortened the rest time considerably when they arrived at the next two checkpoints.

In the end, despite their best efforts, the six-person team successfully completed the trek through the outer edge of the rainforest within the allotted time, and stepped out of the exit under the scorching sun.

Around 3 or 4 pm, the team-building group regrouped at the rainforest exit, boarded the bus, and returned to the resort.

A hiking adventure completely exhausted all the self-proclaimed strong and healthy migrant workers. On the way back, everyone in the car was fast asleep, snoring loudly.

Seeing this, the three colleagues understood even more why they were sleeping peacefully like babies in the stone statue forest; it was nothing more than exhaustion.

After the bus returned to the resort, the entire expedition team went back to their rooms and took the opportunity to rest.

Today's team-building activities, besides the jungle adventure, include an evening beach barbecue and music concert, specially arranged by Fengdu Group as a celebration. A well-known local performance group has been invited. Unless there are special circumstances, everyone participating in the team-building activities is required to attend.

Lu Yu and Pei Yanzhi were no exceptions.

As the sun sets, the beach concert begins on time, creating a lively atmosphere.

Lu Yu didn't participate in their noisy activities, but instead occupied a small stove to grill skewers for Pei Yanzhi. The smell of seafood attracted stray cats from the neighborhood. They perched on the railing not far away, arranged in a row at varying heights, very discreetly not approaching, only staring at Lu Yu with their beautiful cat eyes.

Lu Yu picked up the grilled shrimp and handed it to Pei Yanzhi.

The cats' heads turned in unison, their movements incredibly synchronized.

"Again, again."

Pei Yanzhi held up his phone to film a video, refusing to accept the kebabs.

Helpless, Lu Yu held up the shrimp in his hand and waved it back and forth like a glow stick.

The cats, like a fluffy orchestra being conducted by a conductor, followed Lu Yu's hand, turning their heads and eyes back and forth, their adorable appearance eliciting soft screams from those around them.

"Suck suck suck!"

Someone tried to tease the cats with their own kebabs, but the cats ignored them completely and just stared at Lu Yu.

Lu Yu was aware of his inexplicable attraction to cats, so he wasn't surprised. He simply handed the skewers to Pei Yanzhi and said, "Alright, they'll get cold if you don't eat them soon."

Pei Yanzhi put away his phone and leaned closer gently: "Then let it cool down, it'll be perfect for these little guys. Oh no, this skewer already has seasoning, grill some more without the seasoning."

"Is this how you treat your boyfriend?" Lu Yu looked down at him.

"Keep it in the books," Pei Yanzhi said with a smile.

He keeps accounts, and this person isn't afraid of having too many accounts to keep track of.

Lu Yu raised the corners of his lips, his eyes slightly lowered, and he didn't say anything, but just brought over some more seafood.

Pei Yanzhi ate while feeding Lu Yu and the stray cat.

After feeding them for a while, a group of cats jumped down from the railing, came closer, acted cute, and fought over the food.

Some local teenagers saw this and came over to chat. They said that this beach is also known locally as Cat Beach because it attracts many stray cats. Local cats also come here, and they are not restricted. However, a special pet association comes regularly to check on them. Sick cats are sent to the association's hospital for free treatment.

Pei Yanzhi asked, "Do you all know the cats here?"

“Of course,” the boys laughed, “we even gave them names! That’s Monkey, that’s Dora, that’s Lillian…”

"What's its name?" Pei Yanzhi asked, pointing to a cow-patterned cat that was at the very back.

He noticed the cat early on, not only because it was his favorite black and white cat, but also because it was rather unconventional. It neither rolled around nor tried to steal food, as if it had no interest in these things. It just stared at him and Lu Yu with its amber eyes, looking a little dazed.

Even when offered shrimp, it wouldn't eat it, only politely taking two steps back, seemingly not liking human contact.

“Its name is Dali,” a boy said. “It used to belong to the Huali family, but it suddenly ran away from home last year and didn’t want to go back, so it’s been wandering around outside ever since. Huali said maybe it has its own reasons. We haven’t seen it for a while, and we didn’t expect to find it here. Your barbecue smells amazing…”

Pei Yanzhi laughed, realizing that the children, like the kittens, were craving barbecue.

He got up to help Lu Yu, grilled a few extra skewers, and secretly gave them to the boys. He wasn't as nonchalant as Lu Yu at taking advantage of the company, but he was still quite skilled at it.

"Xiao Lu, Xiao Pei, come here! Stop playing with the cat, we need two more people for our game!"

When the two had almost finished eating, Sister Liu's voice came from afar, waving to them.

When Lu Yu saw the eager expressions on his colleagues' faces, his eyelids twitched, and he had a bad feeling.

Are they really going to pull out those little tricks to improve their relationship?