Chapter 61
After learning that Chen Tingting went to the Public Welfare Department, a new question arose.
Where exactly was the Public Welfare Department located?
Yu Zhi glanced at the map again. The map only showed the building numbers, not the distribution of the company’s departments. There was no way to tell which building or which floor the Public Welfare Department was on.
Fu Suxi said, “Let’s go upstairs.”
Following him forward, Yu Zhi surveyed the first-floor lobby.
This was Building No. 1. Perhaps because the building was near the seaside, the air was moist, and the floor tiles and ceramic surfaces were covered by a thin layer of condensation, giving the place a hazy look.
From the lobby entrance to the corridor, Yu Zhi saw no traces of blood or corpses. Everything was clean, as if it had never experienced the trials of a system mission—just an ordinary company building on a holiday with no employees around.
As soon as they stepped through the corridor door, a familiar and loathsome notification sounded overhead:
“Ding-dong—”
Yu Zhi’s expression changed. He instinctively turned around, wanting to use “Ordinary Kick” to leave.
But Fu Suxi’s reaction was even faster. Just as Yu Zhi turned, a large, well-defined hand closed the corridor door. It seemed Fu Suxi was watching his every move.
The range of “Ordinary Kick” must be a place within line of sight. With the corridor door closed, separating them from the outside, he couldn’t use it.
At the same time, the system’s mechanical voice echoed in the air: “Congratulations on triggering a dungeon mission.”
Yu Zhi had no choice but to resign himself, turning back around, his face expressionless, to look at the man beside him.
Fu Suxi was taller than him, his long, narrow eyes half-narrowed, looking down at him: “You wanted to run?”
Yu Zhi forced a grin and corrected, “Not run. I just didn’t want to do a dungeon mission.”
Fu Suxi’s eyebrows twitched slightly, and suspicion flashed in his eyes.
Yu Zhi said gloomily, “It’s an ancestral rule in the Yu family to think thrice before doing a dungeon task: First, can we not do it at all? Second, can we do it later? Third, can we have someone else do it?”
Fu Suxi: “…”
He stared at Yu Zhi for a while. Seeing the dark eyes filled with dissatisfaction, resistance, and a hint of helpless resignation, he finally believed Yu Zhi truly didn’t want anything to do with a dungeon mission.
Raising an eyebrow, Fu Suxi asked with a faint sneer, “Don’t you want universal coins?”
Yu Zhi looked at him strangely. “I want the universal coins, and I also want my life.”
Hearing this, Fu Suxi suddenly laughed. The curve of his lips deepened, carrying a hint of deeper meaning: “You’re afraid of pollution creatures.”
It wasn’t even a question—he stated it directly.
Yu Zhi’s heart tightened. Fu Suxi was too sharp. One careless slip and you’d fall right into his trap. Afraid Fu Suxi might link this to his ability, Yu Zhi kept his expression calm and said, “Of course. Pollution creatures are disgusting. Plus, there’s mental contamination. What if it can’t be cured and I turn into an idiot?”
Mental contamination isn’t always 100% curable. Worrying and being afraid is normal.
Feigning calmness, Yu Zhi walked up the stairs, sensing Fu Suxi’s sharp gaze lingering on him for a while before finally looking away.
Feeling slightly relieved, Yu Zhi reached the second floor and glanced at the detection device in Fu Suxi’s hand.
The screen showed the pollution concentration skyrocketing to 50%.
Yu Zhi was surprised. Previously in Taijiang Town, the detection device’s reading had at least increased step by step from 10% upward. Now it jumped straight from 2% to 50%?
He couldn’t help asking, “Is there something wrong with your detection device?” It was too unreliable—no gradual changes meant no way to avoid risks.
Fu Suxi flatly denied, “There’s nothing wrong with the detector.”
Yu Zhi froze slightly. If the detector wasn’t faulty, then the only remaining issue… was the dungeon mission?
Dungeon missions were issued by the system, and they were tied to it. In other words, the system deliberately controlled the pollution concentration in the dungeon to help the Special Operations Bureau find it via the detector? And simultaneously prevent him from using the detector to stay away from the dungeon?
Yu Zhi frowned and stopped overthinking. The nature of the system and the livestream viewers was still unclear—speculating further was pointless.
He looked at this instance’s mission:
[Dungeon Mission: Breaking Out of the Cocoon and Reborn.]
[Mission Objective: Find the pollution source in the current area and protect S City!]
[Mission Reward: 4000 universal coins; 1 Random Reward Box.]
[Mission Failure: Unknown.]
Yu Zhi was taken aback. Find the pollution source? Not eliminate or purify it?
At first glance, it seemed the difficulty was lowered, but the reward was even higher than the mission at Taijiang High School.
Could it be that this pollution source is so strong that even Fu Suxi might not be able to handle it?
Yu Zhi’s heart sank. He opened his mouth, “The mission—”
His words cut off abruptly, the rest stuck in his throat.
Yu Zhi’s face went pale, his gaze fixed on the open door of the second-floor corridor.
There was no one there.
Fu Suxi had disappeared!!!
Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap—holy crap!
Yu Zhi’s pupils contracted sharply, his heart clenching violently. Then it started racing so fast it felt like it would burst out of his chest.
A protagonist of this caliber disappeared just like that?!
He stood there stiffly, too scared to move. He was 200% sure that while he was looking at the mission, Fu Suxi had been walking right in front of him. In just the blink of an eye, he was gone.
Now, before him was just a corridor bathed in bright light, glaringly white and stretching into unknown depths.
Yu Zhi’s back broke out in a cold sweat. He swallowed nervously and quickly glanced at the bullet comments.
[User “Peace-Lover” is interested in the current dungeon.]
[User “momo” looks forward to your actions and tips you 50 universal coins.]
[User “Cyber Bodhisattva” wonders about your temporary lover’s whereabouts.]
[User “Velvet Latte” congratulates you on being alone now.]
Yu Zhi watched the barrage for a while, but got no clues. It seemed even the viewers didn’t know what happened.
There was something wrong with this building.
He calmed himself a bit and tried calling out, “Brother?” (Younger brother?)
His hoarse voice echoed in the corridor, causing the voice-activated lights upstairs to turn on one after another, their faint electrical buzzing eerily lingering.
Yu Zhi took several deep breaths, took out the empty compressed biscuit wrapper from before, and tossed it forward.
“Tap—” The wrapper landed intact on the corridor tiles.
Still, Yu Zhi didn’t dare move. What if only living things triggered something bad once they entered?
With Fu Suxi gone, it’d be even worse for him.
He stood there doing nothing for ten full minutes, not daring to move forward or backward.
Only when his heart rate returned to normal and Fu Suxi still hadn’t appeared did he give up and let out a quiet sigh.
Fu Suxi definitely wasn’t dead—he must’ve gone somewhere and couldn’t return.
Now only he was left.
Yu Zhi closed his eyes, growing increasingly uneasy inside.
An unusual dungeon mission, Fu Suxi gone, and this was no ordinary place—it was Meteorite Biotechnology, right in their own lair.
Who knew what kind of terrifying pollution creatures he might encounter later?
Cursing Fu Suxi in his mind for a while, Yu Zhi looked at the constantly refreshing barrage of comments. The feeling of having an audience offered a sliver of companionship. “This livestream thing isn’t half bad,” he said.
[User “Cutest Girl in the World” asks if you’re confessing love.]
[User “A Pair for a Lifetime” accepts your 3P invitation.]
[User “Reborn from an Otherworldly True Love” agrees to your confession.]
Yu Zhi: “…”
He fell silent for a moment, then followed the barrage’s lead. “First, tell me—are you all male or female? How old are you?”
“I’ll pick a few of you, and when we have time, we’ll sleep together.”
Yu Zhi stared at the barrage, wanting to see their answers, but the comment section seemed stuck. It remained frozen at the last comment displayed when he asked his question. No new messages appeared.
If not for the “Broadcasting” sign and the fluctuating viewer count, he’d have thought the livestream had been shut down.
After about a minute, one new comment finally trickled in:
[User “Arrogant Rich Young Master” is curious about your plan and tipped 0.1 universal coins.]
After that, the barrage resumed normal updates, just like before. Yet not a single comment responded to his earlier question.
Yu Zhi took note and withdrew his gaze, casually saying, “My plan from here on?”
“In one word: wait.”
“Since the mission is to find the pollution source, if my missing ‘younger brother’ finds it, the mission’s done, right?”
“I don’t have to do anything—”
Suddenly, Yu Zhi heard a very faint rustling sound.
He whipped around. The boundary of light and shadow in the corridor was distinct, but there was nothing there—no person, no pollution creature.
Yu Zhi took a step forward and carefully looked upstairs.
Behind him, the rustling sound came again. This time, before he could turn around, everything went black, and he lost consciousness.
So dizzy…
So stuffy…
He felt awful…
In a hazy state, Yu Zhi gradually regained some semblance of awareness. His eyelids felt as heavy as if they weighed a thousand pounds, and he couldn’t open them right away.
After struggling for a while, he finally managed to open a tiny crack between his lids.
What he saw was blinding sunlight, so bright his eyes welled up with reflexive tears.
He closed his eyes and waited a good while before trying again.
This time, he took in the surroundings. He seemed to be inside one of the company’s departments. There were dozens of identical workstations, but no one around, nor any sign of pollution creatures.
When he noticed the sun hanging high in the sky outside the window, Yu Zhi’s eyes flew open wide.
Wait… The sun?
What time was it now? How long had he been unconscious?
He immediately took out his phone from [My Items] to check the time.
The phone’s clock hands were frozen, not ticking at all, so he couldn’t confirm the time.
Yu Zhi frowned and looked at a wall clock. It showed 8:30 in the morning.
Did that mean he’d been out for four hours? Or was there something off about time in this pollution instance?
Yu Zhi stood up. Something hanging around his chest swayed gently.
He looked down and discovered an employee ID badge for Meteorite Biotechnology hanging around his neck.
It bore a photo. In it, the young man had dark eyes, his skin made even paler by the blue background. His gaze was somewhat indifferent, and his lips were slightly upturned by nature, but it was clear he wasn’t smiling in that moment.
The young man in the photo was none other than himself.
Not a recent photo, though—this was from his freshman year, when classmates dragged him to get a supposedly “most beautiful ID photo.” He’d had his hair styled and makeup done for more than two hours before the shoot, and by the time they took the picture, he couldn’t smile anymore.
Yu Zhi’s eyelashes trembled. He looked down at the text beneath the photo. Although he was somewhat prepared, he still felt his heart sink.
[Department: Public Welfare Department]
[Position: Public Welfare Activity Planning Specialist]
[ID Number: 5820-356]
[Name: Yu Zhi]
Yu Zhi, not Yu Shi—this was the name on his ID card, his real name.
