Chapter 9 The Infinite Boss Invites You to "Eat Melon" 9. SSS...
Lu Yu didn't sleep well all night.
The next day, as soon as she unlocked her phone, she received a message that he had been exposed as the boyfriend of someone with ulterior motives less than two hours after he was born.
Normally, he should either confront him directly or block and delete him. In short, after learning the truth, he could no longer believe in Pei Yanzhi's affection.
But the truth is, Lu Yu did neither of these things.
When greeted with "Good morning, boyfriend," he readily replied with "Good morning, baby."
If the gossip-eating system had a physical form, it would probably be so disgusted by his cheesy talk that it would give it goosebumps.
"He has ulterior motives towards you!" said the gossip-eating system.
Lu Yu brushed his teeth and washed his face: "I know, that's why I'm playing along with him. He's using his charm, so I'm playing along to win his heart. Once he falls in love with me, whether it's a player or a game, he'll naturally tell me everything. Isn't that better than questioning him or blocking him and alerting him?"
This explanation sounds very clever, but the gossip system just doesn't quite get it: "[...Isn't it because you can't bear to part with it?]"
Lu Yu put on his shoes: "That's part of the reason. After all, you haven't been single for 27 years, so you don't know how difficult it is to meet someone you like and start a relationship with them. But more importantly, I thought about it again and again last night, and I still think that 'listening to both sides leads to enlightenment, while believing only one side leads to darkness.'"
Lu Yu said seriously, "I have initially come to believe you, but everyone, including someone who is not human, has a stance and is biased. My belief in you does not mean that I will completely overturn the Pei Yanzhi I already know because of some of your words. This is not a melodramatic scene. I have my own judgment on sincerity and insincerity, and I have my own way of dealing with it."
The Gossip System: [You were asking this system last night if Pei Yanzhi was truly sincere towards you. And host, you've only known each other for two days.]
Lu Yu: "I've only known you for two days."
The gossip-eating system: [...]
I think you've been blinded by Pei Yanzhi!
Ignoring the system's complaints, Lu Yu picked up his keys and headed out to work.
Putting aside the suspicion and other emotions he felt upon discovering Pei Yanzhi's player identity, Lu Yu could discern, upon reflecting on the details of their interactions over the past two days, that Pei Yanzhi's relationship with him was indeed genuine, though the extent of that sincerity was uncertain. Therefore, what he told the system was sincere, and there was no element of self-deception involved.
However, emotions are a complicated thing. No matter how decisive and carefree Lu Yu was rationally, he was still a little melancholy inside.
This is clearly reflected outwardly in the fact that he has been taking longer paid breaks to defecate at work, and there have been more posts about emotional issues pushed to him on various social media platforms.
But this melancholy didn't last long.
Because something even more depressing happened: the boss came to work.
And the first thing he did upon entering the office was to assign Lu Yu work, instructing him to oversee the Huanhua Lake Music Festival for four consecutive days, from Thursday to Sunday.
The thought of having to go out on weekends and deal with a lot of people, and not being able to slack off, made Lu Yu's head spin.
He was already a seasoned veteran in the workplace, and he knew that he couldn't refuse this job, but he could negotiate. So he squatted in the office and had a long talk with the boss, until the boss's buttocks, which had just been removed from his hemorrhoids, were really restless. Only then did the boss relent and agree to work the field shift on the condition of an extra day off and double pay for two days.
"You've made a profit, so just keep it to yourself and don't go around telling anyone," the boss said, staring at him with displeasure. "If there were too many shameless people like you, how would the company manage?"
"Get out of here!"
Lu Yu didn't care how he managed it; it wasn't his company. But he had indeed benefited, so he couldn't linger any longer. He adjusted his glasses, agreed, and left.
As Lu Yu came out of the boss's office, one of the two new interns from the planning department was walking this way, seemingly wanting to talk to the boss about something. Not wanting to get involved, Lu Yu glanced at them and left.
With a few words from the boss, the task fell entirely on Lu Yu's shoulders. Fortunately, Lu Yu wasn't alone; he had subordinates.
He selected two of his senior colleagues from his department and brought along two new interns, gave them some instructions, and formed a temporary music festival field team.
Gao Gan and Bao Xiaoqi never expected that they would be involved in such a cross-scene plot.
As soon as Lu Yu finished giving his instructions, they ran to the tea room, called over the girl with braided hair, and met up with the short-haired girl who had just finished testing the boss.
After the two sides finished their exchange, the short-haired girl shifted her suspicions towards Lu Yu. She believed that the music festival was likely an important part of the storyline of this instance, and by following the plot, she could uncover the secrets of the Smiling Company.
However, since the music festival only outsourced the publicity part to their company and had nothing to do with their planning department, the two of them couldn't join even if they wanted to. So, they split into two groups as originally planned: one group investigated the boss, and the other followed Lu Yu.
"Cross-scene dungeons are not easy, so you must be very careful. Pay attention to the game prompts and don't try to break the rules or explore the world outside the dungeon, or you won't even know how you died," the short-haired girl warned.
Don't worry!
Gao Gan and Bao Xiaoqi patted their chests and agreed.
That evening, Lu Yu worked late into the night to coordinate the upcoming music festival.
【Good evening. 】
Before bed, Pei Yanzhi sent a message: "Boyfriend, do you believe in metaphysics? I ran into a fortune teller on my way home from work, and he told your fortune. Some strange things might happen around you tomorrow. But whatever it is, don't panic. Stay calm, stay rational, and stay composed. If you encounter something you can't handle, call for help or the police. If you call for help, call as many people as possible; don't be afraid to make a scene."
Lu Yu stared at this somewhat strange and abrupt message for a long time before finally replying with: 【Okay, baby. Good evening.】
Meanwhile, near the S-rank dungeon, Seven Days Park.
Pei Yanzhi leaned back on the bench and turned off his phone screen.
He didn't care if the text gave anything away; once the main storyline began, Lu Yu would eventually find out his player identity. He just needed to purify his own corruption to a sufficiently low level before they broke up; the rest didn't matter to him.
Of course, the best course of action would be for him not to remind Lu Yu, in which case there would be no risk.
But for some reason, he hesitated for two seconds before sending the message anyway.
"Is everything ready?" Pei Yanzhi casually raised his eyes.
"Don't worry, Captain," Wang Kun said from the other side, "with the information we three have gathered, plus what you've collected these past two days, Captain, we'll definitely be in the top three for this preliminary exploration mission!"
Pei Yanzhi smiled. He didn't care about this at all; it was just part of his game of testing each other's smiles.
The other two members of their team are twins, the older brother Xiao Wan and the younger sister Xiao Qian.
Xiao Qian chewed her gum, her eyes darting around as she observed Pei Yanzhi's expression. She seemed to have some guesses, but said nothing.
“It’s about time,” Pei Yanzhi stood up. “Let’s go.”
Three team members followed closely behind him.
The four arrived at a blind spot in the surveillance cameras near Seven Days Park, and Pei Yanzhi glanced at the time.
Midnight marks the end of the preliminary quests. All participating players will be teleported back to the in-game transfer station to await Smile Games' check of the preliminary quest completion and the announcement of the official story quests. Before teleportation begins, players must find a suitable hidden location; otherwise, the teleportation may fail.
At exactly twelve o'clock, spatial fluctuations occurred.
In a corner unseen by anyone, four figures vanished simultaneously after a moment of distortion.
...
"Look, the S-rank players are back!"
"Have the prerequisite quests for the SSS-level dungeon been completed?"
"'Dreamcatchers'! It's 'Dreamcatchers'! Their team is involved in this mission too!"
"And there are 'evolvers' too!"
"The 'Writer' and the 'Elementalist' are also there. The War God Guild is really determined to win!"
"How could we not participate! This is an SSS-level dungeon! I heard that this dungeon is an entire world, and all the dungeons we usually go to are inside it. There must be a lot of good stuff! Moreover, Smile Games has already announced the dungeon rewards. If you successfully clear it, you can not only freely choose between 'fulfilling a wish' and 'completely leaving the game,' but you also have the opportunity to become the master of a new world. Who wouldn't be tempted by that?"
"Look, it's the 'Realm Lord'! It's just a preliminary quest, and he's already taken action..."
"It's said that the competition for this dungeon started right from the pre-quest requirements..."
Inside the game's transit station, all S-rank players who had returned from exploration missions were teleported to the transit station's plaza.
All the players who were paying attention to this place out of curiosity or for some other reason gathered around to watch.
Pei Yanzhi led his team to meet up with the rest of the Crimson Dawn guild.
Ji Chengchuan saw it from afar. Surrounded by a group of admirers, he held his hand to his throat, making a throat-slitting gesture, his smile arrogant and provocative. Pei Yanzhi's lips curled into a mocking smile, then he turned his eyes away as if he hadn't seen it at all, ignoring it.
"Coward," Ji Chengchuan mocked.
Pei Yanzhi did not react, and it was unclear whether he had heard it or not.
The leader of Crimson Dawn, the "Great Prophet," saw this and whispered, "Is he trying to provoke you into killing him?"
“Yes,” Pei Yanzhi said, “but I know I can’t really kill him right now.”
“Good that you understand,” the great prophet said. “The ‘Land of Fools’ has begun. Be patient.”
Pei Yanzhi smiled.
As the two were talking, all the S-rank players who were participating in the exploration mission had arrived.
The sky above the transit station changed, revealing a large black smiley face.
"The preliminary exploration phase of the SSS-level dungeon 'Fool's Kingdom' has ended. Welcome back, S-level players!"
The smiling face emitted a hoarse, mechanical voice: "The rankings of each team and individual player are now announced based on the completion rate of the prerequisite exploration tasks. The top ten players can accept the formal storyline quests and receive exploration points based on their completion rate of the prerequisite exploration tasks."
Before the words were even finished, a long list was unfurled, with the top ten highlighted. The number of exploration points distributed to the remaining ten decreased to one.
Wang Kun glanced around and spotted their team third. The first two were Jiang Yan's team and Ji Chengchuan's team.
"The 'Elemental Messenger' team specializes in exploration missions and has a variety of methods, so it's normal for them to rank first. What makes Ji Chengchuan so special?" Wang Kun complained.
"Elemental Messenger" is Jiang Yan's title.
In Jiang Yan's team, Lao Bai was also puzzled: "Captain, how come Pei Yanzhi and the others are only in third place? Judging from the progress of Pei Yanzhi and Lu Yu's relationship, there's no way they could have been left behind by Ji Chengchuan, right?"
Jiang Yan glanced thoughtfully at Pei Yanzhi in the distance, but didn't answer. She had a strange intuition that perhaps Pei Yanzhi hadn't told Smiling Game everything he knew.
The rankings sparked a wave of discussion at the transit station, but it quickly subsided as the sound of smiling faces rang out again.
"The preliminary exploration phase has ended. Next, the SSS-level dungeon 'Fool's Kingdom' will be fully open, and the official storyline will begin. The first ten teams and players, please check the storyline quests."
The top ten players looked up, and words gradually appeared in the sky.
Five years ago, a battle took place between the gods and the god-slayers, resulting in the deaths of both. Nine fragments of divine power were scattered throughout the world; whoever collects them all can obtain a complete divine power and embark on the path to godhood.
At present, the game has obtained two Godhood Fragments (dormant, available for exchange), and three more are hidden in the hands of two players (dormant, available for theft). The sixth fragment has been fused with the dungeon boss (dormant, available for theft after defeating the boss).
Players must find the seventh, eighth, and ninth fragments to unlock the gate to godhood.
Important Note 1:
The fragments of divinity are dormant until the "Followers' Kingdom" map is fully illuminated, but they will gradually awaken as the "Followers' Kingdom" opens.
The seventh divine fragment is currently in the awakened state. Awakened divine fragments will automatically approach the final boss of the dungeon. The seventh divine fragment will arrive at the boss's location tomorrow.
Players must find the Divine Shard next to the Boss within four days starting tomorrow, otherwise the Divine Shard will be absorbed and fused by the Boss.
If the boss successfully fuses the fragments, its power will increase, which will be detrimental to the player's final victory. Conversely, if the boss fails to fuse the fragments, it will be weakened, and the player's power will increase.
Important Note 2:
Divine fragments are inanimate objects, not living things; they have a certain volume and are not excessively small.
Important Note 3:
Do not use the strange object to directly contact the fragment of the divine essence, otherwise the strange object will go out of control or collapse and turn against its master.
Important Note 4:
Players can use exploration points to verify the existence of divine fragments in a designated area. Note that only areas can be verified, not specific items. Exploration points are precious and cannot be obtained again once used, so please use them carefully.
Important Note 5:
After further investigation, the current situation of the dungeon boss has been narrowed down to one of Baishan or Luyu.
The story has begun, so please act quickly!
A note from the author:
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