Jiao Bai held his breath in time to avoid choking on the smoke. He stared at the flickering orange-red ember that was just inches away from him, and his heart was as chilled as the late autumn night wind.

Czlm hs! This late at night, was Shen Er'an cdzc or something? How could he just let this old azrszqc[1] in?

How did he get in? Did he get a spare key from the landlord, or did Shen Er'an open the door for him?

Jiao Bai felt that the latter was unlikely.

Young Master Shen’s wings were still very flimsy when he was young. His father was a dark, towering mountain before him, a height that he, at this stage, couldn’t even see the top of.

But the current Young Master Shen was passionate and loyal. He wouldn’t treat his roommate, who had shielded him from a steel rod, like that.

But no matter what, he should have at least received a notification message.

【Your friend is online.】

“...” Jiao Bai found a release for his anger, and he snapped at the assistant, “Who knows how long he’s standing by my bed. He even picked me up, and you guys are only warning me now?”

【Server latency is too high.】

Jiao Bai asked, “Can we switch to a different server? If you guys had warned me earlier, I wouldn’t be so stupefied.”

【Each player is assigned a server for one-on-one monitoring. If a player wants to switch servers, they need to purchase it with points. Points are earned based on the player’s mission completion progress.】

【Player Jiao Bai, current points: 0.】

Jiao Bai: ……

You think I need you to tell me that?

The situation was dire. Jiao Bai’s mind fluctuated between confusion and clarity, the two states clashing intensely, causing his face to contort.

Cigarette between his fingers, Shen Ji leaned close to Jiao Bai. His ice-cold voice was full of criticism. “Your mouth reeks of medicine.”

Jiao Bai breathed on him.

Shen Ji tossed him back on the bed in disgust.

Tossed him back…

Toss……

Jiao Bai’s head was spinning from the pain. A mess of curses and screams were stuck in his throat, unable to escape. All he could do was shed physiological tears, which streamed down his face.

The person on the bed had wet cheeks, and his reddened nose twitched as it let out a weak, pitiful nasal sound. Shen Ji looked down heartlessly. Even his son’s tears couldn’t obtain privileges from him.

“Will you walk on your own, or should I drag you?”

Jiao Bai clenched the straps of his chest brace in pain. “Drag...your...lnsgdqet...”

Jiao Bai couldn’t even curse coherently. He was crying so hard he was gasping and each gasp of breath intensified the pain. This vicious cycle made him want to bang his head against the wall.

“Etbj you... Shen Ji... You won’t live for many more years... You will meet a bad end[2]...” Jiao Bai was delirious from the excruciating pain and didn’t even know what curses were coming out of his mouth. He trembled uncontrollably as he crawled to the bedside table, opened the drawer, and grabbed the painkillers.

Shen Ji was slightly tipsy with normal hearing. For the first time in his life, someone called his name directly and even cursed him to die early and meet a bad end. A suffocating chilliness enveloped his expression.

This is a dog that bites, and its teeth are sharp.

And it can bark. It barks very fiercely and has the nature of a wolf.

For a split second, Shen Ji’s body erupted with aqtszk ltqcdqntr thoughts. Just as he was about to rsqzmfkd the dog’s neck, a flicker of restlessness surfaced from deep within his brain.

That restlessness coursed back and forth through Shen Ji’s veins, and in that brief moment of distraction, he recalled the purpose of his visit.

Shen Ji closed his eyes and rubbed his throbbing temples vigorously a few times. When he looked back at the little dog, who was ontqhmf ohkkr into its mouth, the ruthlessness between his brows had faded a bit.

That glance the little dog had given him during the car accident had appeared in his mind several times. Each time was sudden, illogical, and unprecedented.

Especially last week, after his assistant reported the findings to him, he recalled that glance even more frequently, to the point that it would appear even while he was handling official matters.

Shen Ji’s course of action was to have someone bring Jiang Yan to the company, where he spent the entire afternoon tossing him about in all sorts of ways.

However, the effect was minimal.

—There was a small thorn embedded in something of his.

Shen Ji thought that thing was his ktrs, or desire to conquer or control, or ghr rzchrshb cdrhqdr. At any rate, at nearly forty, he had encountered a minor accident and had been pricked by a thorn.

And the thorn was one dropped by an inconspicuous little okzxsghmf.

When his assistant asked where he was going tonight, Shen Ji finished a cigarette and gave an address. He felt he could no longer allow things to develop further. He had to pull out that thorn as soon as possible, crush it, and cast it out of his world.

So Shen Ji appeared here.

Of course, the alcohol played a role in this as well. It could dilute a person’s rationality and principles, unleashing their innate desires.

The air in the room was thin and humid, enveloped in the tranquillity that preceded a continuous winter rain.

After Jiao Bai took the painkillers, he leaned over the side of the bed, panting rapidly. His rationality had returned somewhat, and he didn’t have time to dwell on what curses he had thrown out while he was muddleheaded from the pain. He focused solely on figuring out how to resolve the trouble before him.

In just a few seconds, Jiao Bai’s racing thoughts came to a halt, because his activity level with the old azrszqc had jumped from 37 to 45.

This meant that with just 5 more, the old azrszqc’r profile would unlock for him.

It also meant that the profile might contain important information on how to deal with the old azrszqc.

A big bait had been placed before Jiao Bai.

Should he take it or not?

Of course, he’d take it!!!!

Jiao Bai made his decision in a very short time. He needed to increase the activity level by 5 without being deflowered, gain access to the old ezqs’r profile information, and then sneak away.

“Assistant, what activity level do my eight friends need to reach to be automatically sorted into a group?” Typically, it would be 100, but what if the passing line was only 60? Jiao Bai dreamed.

【It just needs to reach 100. 】

Alright, I’ve woken up and the dream has shattered. Jiao Bai asked in his head, “Then what criteria are used to assign the friends into the groups?”

【The purity of the activity level. 】

Jiao Bai: “...” There was no point in asking. Purity wasn’t a number that could be seen with the mzjdc eye.

【The purity is in the player’s mind and decided by the player.】

When Jiao Bai snapped out of his thoughts, he had been grabbed by his slightly longish sweaty hair and forced to tilt his head up. The contemplative look in his watery eyes instantly vanished, replaced by anger and vigilance aimed at the old ezqs above him.


[1] 老东西 (lǎo dōng xī) – literal translation ‘old thing’ - means old fool, nkc azrszqc, nkc ezqs. I will be alternating between using nkc azrszqc zmc nkc ezqs when translating this word.

[2] 不得善终 (bù dé shàn zhōng) Life won’t end well. / Won’t have a natural death.