After Bystander A Bound to JJ Literature City – CH27

Chapter 27

“What Yu Yi, Yu Ling, Yu Yi Ling?! Who the hell is who?!”

A thunderous roar erupted from the tiny speaker of the phone, echoing through the air and refusing to dissipate.

The sheer volume jolted He Hanhai, clearing his headache and dizziness instantly. He quickly recounted Yu Ling’s earlier self-introduction and described Fu Suxi’s current state in detail.

When he finished, there was a heavy silence.

He Hanhai could distinctly hear the sound of heavy breathing on the other end of the call.

Carefully, he voiced his speculation: “Minister, it’s unlikely that Team Leader Fu would bring someone along without a reason. I think Yu Yi and Yu Ling might be brothers, and Yu Yi Ling could be their shared alias.”

“…”

Time was of the essence, and Ji Yangqiu closed his eyes briefly before issuing a rapid order. “Get back to B City as fast as you can.”

“Fu Suxi hasn’t woken up yet, has he? Hit him with a few more tranquilizer darts. Don’t bother dressing him—just bring him back as he is. He thought he could play games, but now he’s the one getting played. Serves him ri—”

Mid-sentence, Ji Yangqiu was interrupted by He Hanhai: “Minister, all of our tranquilizer guns are gone.”

Ji Yangqiu: “?”

Yu Yi Ling, why don’t you just call yourself Yu All-Take-All?!

Taking a deep breath, Ji Yangqiu bellowed, “Then watch for an opportunity to physically knock him out! Keep that bastard unconscious!”

After three minutes, the call automatically disconnected.

Ji Yangqiu sank heavily into his chair, his stubbled face clouded with frustration.

Sensing his mood, the staff quickly ushered the intern out of the office.

Ji Yangqiu took a long, deep breath before speaking gravely. “This is more complicated than I thought.”

“Yu Yi was a fake name from the start. If he managed to knock Fu Suxi out, steal the detector, and take all the tranquilizer guns, he’s no ordinary person with a rare awakened ability. He won’t be easily controlled.”

“Yu Yi’s a fake.”

“Tell the lab to prepare for a full examination on Fu Suxi when he returns.”

*

The black off-road vehicle sped down the wide roads of J City. The streets were eerily empty—no cars, no people—just headless corpses strewn everywhere.

Yu Zhi’s gaze swept over the grisly scene before settling on the pollution detector in his hand.

[Pollution Concentration: 1%]
[Pollution Concentration: 1%]
[Pollution Concentration: 1%]

They had been driving for an hour, yet the concentration hadn’t changed, remaining steady at one percent.

Yu Zhi tapped the screen, revealing a refresh button at the top. He pressed it, but the reading stayed the same.

It seemed the claim that “the pollution source might be in J City” was just a lie from Ji Yangqiu meant to mislead Fu Suxi.

Yu Zhi sighed, exasperated. The people in this ability user organization are all schemers, one more cunning than the next.

Do they really need to trick their own people?

Noticing Lu Liming eyeing the detector curiously, Yu Zhi handed it over. “This is the detector I took from Fu Suxi. It measures the surrounding pollution concentration.”

He paused, then added, “I awakened an ability last night that eliminates people’s killing intent. That’s why Fu Suxi didn’t kill us.”

Briefly, he recounted what had happened after Lu Liming passed out, including their reason for coming to J City, Fu Suxi’s entanglements with the ability user organization, and how he had used Fu Suxi to earn a fortune from his live stream audience.

The sheer amount of information left Lu Liming reeling. This was beyond anything he could have imagined, even in his wildest dreams.

After processing it word by word, Lu Liming suddenly realized he might have misunderstood something.

Cautiously, he asked, “Brother Yu, so everything you did wasn’t to overpower and take advantage of Fu Suxi?”

Yu Zhi: “?”

Even if I were insane, I wouldn’t try to overpower a mad dog like him!

Guessing that Lu Liming might have misinterpreted the events in the car, Yu Zhi clarified, “I’m not gay, nor do I want to let Fu Suxi take advantage of me.”

“I have no relationship with him. Everything I did in the car was to make money from the live stream.”

“Oh, oh.” Lu Liming nodded, but something still didn’t add up.

If Yu Zhi’s actions weren’t to subdue and exploit Fu Suxi, then what had all the elaborate planning from H City been for?

Catching a glimpse of Yu Zhi tapping the detector’s screen again, realization dawned on Lu Liming.

Of course—it was for the detector!

“Brother Yu, don’t worry,” Lu Liming said earnestly, nodding firmly. “I get it. I understand everything now.”

Everything you did in H City was to lower Fu Suxi’s guard, use him to manipulate the ability user organization, and seize the detector—all while humiliating Fu Suxi in the process.

Such cunning, such strategy, such brilliance!

Lu Liming clicked his tongue in admiration. “Truly, Brother Yu, you’re amazing!”

Yu Zhi found his tone odd and asked suspiciously, “Do you really understand?”

“Absolutely,” Lu Liming assured him. “You didn’t intentionally steal the detector.”

Yu Zhi: “…I really didn’t.”

Lu Liming nodded emphatically. “Right, it was just an accidental theft on purpose!”

After a moment of silence, Yu Zhi admitted, “I took it on impulse.”

If it weren’t for the possibility of a tracker on Fu Suxi’s car, he would have impulsively taken the vehicle too.

Lu Liming nodded again, as if everything made perfect sense. “Oh, so it’s called impulse now.”

Yu Zhi retracted his gaze and turned to look at the scenery outside the window.

He wasn’t a mind reader, so whatever thoughts Lu Liming kept to himself remained a mystery. How far Lu Liming’s imagination had gone was anyone’s guess.

The breeze brushing his face helped ease his tension.

J City didn’t have a pollution source, and Fu Suxi wouldn’t wake up anytime soon to resume the chase.

After some thought, Yu Zhi suggested, “Xiao Ming, let’s find somewhere nearby to rest for the day.”

“It’s about a ten-hour drive to B City. We’ll rest today and push through tomorrow.”

Lu Liming immediately agreed. “Alright.”

He adjusted the steering wheel with a grin. “What a coincidence—I know just the place in J City where we can rest.”

Half an hour later, the off-road vehicle entered a villa district. Without hesitation, Lu Liming navigated to a specific villa and parked.

From entering the district to getting out of the car, they didn’t see a single person. A deserted area was indeed safer.

Yu Zhi asked offhandedly, “How do you know this place?”

Lu Liming answered honestly, “This is my family’s house in J City. The developer built this villa community as gifts for clients.”

Yu Zhi fell silent.

Ah, my apologies—a rich second-generation heir.

Over the past couple of days, Lu Liming’s goofy persona had become so ingrained that Yu Zhi had nearly forgotten this was a wealthy heir with properties scattered across the country.

As they walked, Lu Liming continued, “My parents came to J City for a conference earlier this year. There must be cleaning staff maintaining the house regularly, so there should be some food inside.”

The villa was spacious. Once inside, Yu Zhi stopped Lu Liming, and the two spent some time checking the smart surveillance at the entrance. After confirming no one had visited in the past two days, they finally relaxed.

Yu Zhi settled onto the sofa and began munching on an apple from the coffee table.

After a brief rest, Lu Liming glanced at the clock on the wall and suddenly remembered that it was the third day.

He straightened up abruptly and opened his task panel.

Seeing the contents of Main Task Three, Lu Liming widened his eyes in disbelief. “Huh? The task is this simple?”

Yu Zhi, chewing his apple, responded with a muffled hum.

“How can it be this simple? Killing one mutant per day—this doesn’t add up!”

Lu Liming stared intently at the task panel, muttering to himself, “We’ve already had a task like this before, haven’t we? This is easier than an open-book exam—they’re practically giving us the answers. Plus, we have way more time than for Main Task One. And the penalty? It’s just a 50 Universal Coin deduction?”

“They keep telling us to ‘actively take action,’ but…” His thoughts began to spiral. “What if the system is up to something? Could the definition of a mutant have changed this time? Do we need to kill pollutants? Or take out an entire pollution source?”

Noticing Yu Zhi nearly finishing his apple, Lu Liming quickly grabbed another one and began peeling it.

When Yu Zhi bit into the last bit of his current apple, Lu Liming had just finished peeling. He snatched the core from Yu Zhi’s hand and replaced it with the freshly peeled apple.

Yu Zhi turned his head to meet Lu Liming’s eager gaze.

Lu Liming asked, “Brother Yu, what do you think is going on?”

Taking a bite of the new apple, Yu Zhi replied lazily, “You’re missing one key point.”

Lu Liming blinked in confusion. “What point?”

“The system has repeated its goal many times: to defend Earth, not destroy it. From the beginning, the purpose of these tasks hasn’t been about killing people or causing death.”

“The focus of Main Task Three isn’t even on completing the quest itself.”

Yu Zhi paused, his gaze fixed on Lu Liming’s wide, puppy-like eyes.

Instead of giving a direct answer, he gently guided, “So, Xiao Ming, what do you think the real focus of this task is?”

Lu Liming felt an inexplicable sense of pressure, as if a teacher had called on him in class.

After a moment of serious thought, he ventured hesitantly, “Is it… to encourage us to do dungeon tasks?”

Yu Zhi smiled. “Exactly.”

“In the dungeons, the system is much more active. It explains the pollution source and pinpoints the core polluted areas.”

“And the rewards for completing a dungeon are more than ten times higher than those for the main quest.”

“These few days are the best time to tackle dungeons, and the perfect opportunity for individuals and organizations to widen the gap in strength. That’s why Fu Suxi was so eager to find a pollution source.”

Lu Liming froze at Yu Zhi’s final remark.

So… Brother Yu had anticipated the system’s upcoming task and preemptively planned to seize the detector?

He had been naively thinking Brother Yu was on the fifth floor of this metaphorical game, but in reality, Brother Yu had ascended straight to the stratosphere!

Staring blankly at Yu Zhi’s profile, Lu Liming murmured, “Brother Yu, you saw all of this coming, didn’t you…”

Yu Zhi, unaware of Lu Liming’s overactive imagination, assumed he was still talking about their earlier discussion and nodded.

Indeed, he had predicted that the system would assign a longer-term task.

When combined with the system’s past statements, it wasn’t hard to deduce.

Main Task One required participants to kill one mutant in a confined area within a limited time, with failure resulting in death. Clearly, it was a filtering process.

Main Task Two called for a full-force effort to defend Earth.

The method to complete the task in Main Task Two involved depleting one’s abilities, with the punishment left unspecified, clearly marking it as a capability test.

After such a test, it was only logical to provide participants with time to strengthen themselves.

Yu Zhi’s original plan had been to stay in H City until Main Task Three began before heading to B City. But who could have predicted Fu Suxi would appear halfway through and disrupt everything?

Reflecting on this, Yu Zhi tossed his apple core into the trash and grabbed a third apple, taking a determined bite.

After a long silence, Lu Liming finally snapped out of his awe at Yu Zhi’s foresight and asked, “By the way, Brother Yu, which route are we taking tomorrow? Toward N City or S City?”

Yu Zhi thought for a moment. “S City.”

“I used to go to school in S City, so I know my way around.”

*

B City.

Fu Suxi opened his eyes to the familiar interior of the Operations Department’s rest room, momentarily dazed.

As his vision refocused, he abruptly sat up.

The first thing he saw was his reflection.

Three full-length mirrors had been placed around the bed—one each at the head, left, and right sides—leaving him no choice but to see his own humiliating state from every angle.

The remnants of the torn shirt binding his wrists disintegrated with a mere glance, the fragments floating in the air before being incinerated by flames that burst forth from nowhere.

Expressionless, Fu Suxi looked down. Not only was there a message scrawled across his abdomen in marker, but his right palm also bore a line of text:

Don’t bother looking for me. Go chase your damn dungeon instead.

Rage surged through him, a mix of burning anger and suppressed bloodlust, veins bulging on the back of his hands.

“Yu—”

The name was cut short as Fu Suxi realized something.

He didn’t actually know what that person’s name was.

Yu Yi was a fake. Yu Ling was a fake. Yu Yi Ling? An even more absurd fabrication.

Darkness clouding his expression, Fu Suxi gritted his teeth and enunciated each word slowly:

“Where… is… he?”

Live Stream Chat Explodes:

[User “World’s Cutest Girl” He’s in A City. ]
[User “Celibacy Enthusiast” He’s in B City!” – Tipped 10 Universal Coins.]
[User “Lord of Flames” He’s in J City!” – Tipped 50 Universal Coins.]
[User “Pure Love Warrior” He’s in S City.]
[User “Scarecrow’s Plow” He’s in J City but plans to head to S City!]

Staring at the contradictory answers flooding the panel, Fu Suxi’s face darkened further.

Unable to hold back, he clenched his teeth and spat a single word through them:

“F*ck!”