Chapter 88
[User “For a Lifetime, One Couple” acknowledges a love triangle with you.]
[User “Pure Love Warrior” is shocked by your numerous identities.]
[User “Scarecrow’s F***” snorts in disdain at your arrogant speech.]
[User “World’s No. 1 Cute Girl” presses to know what kind of relationship you want to have with them?]
[User “Rebirth: Love in Another Universe” reminds you that it’s more than just ‘a bit of a relationship’.]
Yu Zhi’s livestream chat began refreshing at breakneck speed, and a few trolls who just wanted to watch the world burn even migrated over to Lu Liming’s stream.
[User “The Strongest King” reluctantly acknowledges their relationship with the other party.]
[User “Cyber Bodhisattva” approves of their believer-deity relationship with the other party.]
[User “Excuse Me Monkey” denies their inappropriate relationship with the other party.]
Lu Liming already firmly believed that Yu Zhi possessed a deeply classified, hidden identity. With the chat flashing like this, his eyes grew wide and his mind became an absolute jumble.
Brother Yu had endless, tangled connections with this world, ranging from the high-and-mighty system livestream all the way down to a solitary college student.
There was no identity Brother Yu didn’t have—only those you couldn’t wrap your head around!
What did it mean to be chosen by Heaven? This was the textbook definition of being chosen by Heaven!
Lu Liming’s heart hammered against his ribs as his eyes lit up with feverish excitement. Before Yu Zhi could speak again, he blurted out in a rush, “Brother Yu, rest assured! Even if they beat me to death, I won’t breathe a word of this to anyone!”
“…”
Yu Zhi was already starting to regret his choices. He had only brought it up casually.
Knowing Lu Liming’s bizarre logical tracks, the more he tried to explain, the wilder the guy’s mental gymnastics would get. So, Yu Zhi pivoted to a different approach: “Actually…”
“It’s not just me who has a connection to the system and the livestream. You have one too.”
The moment the words left his mouth, the chat erupted with even greater ferocity.
[User “Ascetic” has noticed your passion for polyamorous relationships and has happily gifted you 20 universal coins.]
[User “One Lifetime, One Couple” appreciates your unique and discerning kinks, and has gifted you 20 universal coins.]
[User “Rebirth: Love in Another Universe” denies their relationship with the other party.]
Lu Liming’s eyes practically turned into searchlights. “I get it!”
“So their—no, wait, our mission is to domesticate all of humanity?”
Yu Zhi: “…”
No, you don’t get it at all.
“What I mean is, we, the system, and the livestream users share a grand, common objective—to defend Earth!”
“Therefore,” Yu Zhi enunciated slowly, making sure Lu Liming caught every single syllable, “we are all Earth Defenders.”
“We, the system, and the livestream users are comrades-in-arms, companions who have walked through fire together, brothers who would take a bullet for each other.”
Lu Liming came to a sudden realization, though a hint of disappointment crept into his voice. “Oh, so it’s that kind of relationship…”
He glanced at a few chat comments that were busy slandering Yu Zhi and muttered, “The system is alright, but we can forget about the crowd in the livestream. There’s literally someone telling me to assassinate you right now.”
Yu Zhi’s brow twitched as he smoothly hijacked the topic. “Did they offer any money?”
Lu Liming: “…No.”
Yu Zhi: “Tell them to show you the money before you make a move.”
Lu Liming shot back instantly, “Even if they paid me, I couldn’t possibly lay a hand on you! What is money anyway?”
Yu Zhi blinked innocently. “Money is obviously a great thing. You can take their money to kill me, but it’s not like you actually have to go through with it.”
Lu Liming: “???!!!”
It was like a lightning bolt of enlightenment had struck him. He clicked his tongue in awe. “True. Brother Yu, you make an excellent point.”
“Gotta secure the bag, and nobody actually has to die… Wait, that instigator in the chat just logged off without giving me a single cent.”
Seeing that Liming was no longer hyper-fixating on his relationship with the system, Yu Zhi let out a slow, quiet breath. “And as for the matter between me and Fu Suxi…”
He trailed off, suddenly stumped on how to frame it.
Back in H City, Fu Suxi had been chasing them down to hack them to pieces. Yet the moment they arrived in S City, they were suddenly putting on an act as taboo brothers. Fu Suxi, that volatile, mad dog—one minute he was helping Yu Zhi heal his wounds, and the next he was aggressively interrogating him about his identity…
While Yu Zhi was caught in a dilemma over how to explain, Lu Liming shot him a knowing, conspiratorial wink. “I read you loud and clear, Brother Yu.”
“You two knew each other from before. Right now, it’s for the sake of the contamination sources—oh, and that Meteor Biotech Company—that you’re temporarily playing nice.”
Yu Zhi raised an eyebrow in mild astonishment. Remarkably, that was exactly it.
He and Fu Suxi could technically be considered old acquaintances, though it was a purely one-sided “acquaintance” on his end.
And his alliance with Fu Suxi was indeed driven by Meteor Biotech.
When Liming wasn’t drowning in his own wild delusions, he could actually be pretty sharp.
Now that the air was cleared, Yu Zhi stood up. “Let’s move. To the headquarters first. I need to place a call to the main bureau.”
Lu Liming quickly fell into step behind him, asking inquisitively, “Why the sudden call to the main bureau? Is something massive about to go down?”
Yu Zhi gave a vague reply: “Because I didn’t have the chance to before.”
The S City Special Operations Bureau was currently Fu Suxi’s stomping grounds, and the main bureau in B City was his home turf. Even if that Director Ji from the main bureau and Fu Suxi had a history of playing mind games and deceiving each other, Ji would never side with Yu Zhi.
Furthermore, Ji’s interest in him was strictly confined to his ability. He used to have absolutely no leverage in front of Ji.
But things were different now.
Shang Yu had mentioned that the main bureau wanted her to keep a tight leash on Fu Suxi, noting that he was highly likely to become completely uncontrollable.
Which meant the main bureau was fully aware that Fu Suxi could snap at any moment.
They needed Fu Suxi, yet they deeply feared him. That was why they had specifically engineered a tranquilizer gun tailored just for him. Their intense fascination with his own ability was, to a large extent, geared toward finding a way to keep Fu Suxi on a leash.
And now, Fu Suxi couldn’t even steal his ability away…
The corners of Yu Zhi’s mouth tilted upward. He turned a smiling face to Lu Liming. “Things are different now.”
With his ability capable of keeping a lid on Fu Suxi—a ticking time bomb that could detonate at any second—he finally held some real chips in his hand.
Every department within the Special Operations Bureau occupied its own dedicated building. As Yu Zhi followed Lu Liming toward the headquarters, he realized the bureau was vastly larger than he had initially envisioned.
Rather than a mere administrative office, it looked more like a heavily fortified military base. Several tanks and combat helicopters were stationed across the wide tarmac, and heavily armed personnel could be seen patrolling everywhere.
The headquarters building was brightly illuminated. The moment they stepped inside, Yu Zhi noticed a multitude of staff clad in white uniforms. They shared the exact same design as the Combat Department’s black uniforms, differing only in color.
They were all rushing about with urgent strides; no one spared a glance for Yu Zhi and Lu Liming, who were dressed in plain civilian clothes.
Lu Liming only knew the general layout of the headquarters building but wasn’t sure which exact floor or room the dispatchers were on. After asking around for directions, they finally arrived outside the communications room where the communication-type ability users were stationed.
Just as Yu Zhi stepped up to the door, a familiar chime suddenly echoed through the air: Ding-dong—
He snapped his head around to look at Lu Liming, who had also frozen mid-step, completely stunned.
Yu Zhi’s eyelid gave a sharp twitch. Main Quest Four had already been deployed; the system’s sudden re-emergence could only mean trouble.
The instant the thought crossed his mind, a sweet, melodic female voice rang out in the air—the exact same voice that had originally announced the launch of the main quest: “Attention, all Earth residents.”
“Main Quest Three has officially concluded.”
As the announcement finished, a video projection snapped open on the system panel.
The once-bustling commercial streets were completely desolate. Dim streetlights cast erratic, twisted shadows across the overgrown greenery.
Suddenly, the eerie silence was shattered by a frantic, scuttling noise.
A two-meter-tall black cockroach abruptly burst out from the shadows, slamming violently into the glass storefront of a nearby shop. With a deafening shatter, the glass doors exploded inward. Simultaneously, a terrified human shriek rent the air: “Aaaah—!”
The scream was abruptly cut short, leaving only the sickening sound of the cockroach chewing amidst the ruined shop.
Then, the footage abruptly cut to an entirely different scene. This time, it was broad daylight.
Amidst a barren wasteland of rubble sat a headless corpse. She wore a light-blue, ruffled doll dress, her hands propped behind her as she leaned back comfortably. Swinging right by her feet was a neat, terrifyingly orderly display of severed human heads, all blond-haired and blue-eyed.
Every single head was locked in an expression of absolute horror, their faces completely drained of color. Yet, their mouths were moving uncontrollably, singing in unison: “London Bridge is falling down, Falling down, falling down.”
“London Bridge is falling down…”
As the singing slowly faded, the lens cut away to a vast, endless desert.
Dozens of dark-skinned Africans had formed a tight circle, trapping a massive scorpion that possessed a human head.
Under the direction of a high priest adorned with feathers and wielding a ceremonial staff, the crowd hacked off the human-headed scorpion’s limbs and severed its head. The onlookers erupted into deafening cheers.
One jarringly different scene after another flickered across the system panel.
The footage this time was extraordinarily long—several times longer than the clip broadcasted when Fu Suxi completed Main Quest One—spanning five separate segments in total.
Only when the final frame vanished did the female voice return: “Dear Earth residents, to enable you to better defend our planet, the Global Instance Quest Progress tracker is now officially live!”
“Effective immediately, all Earth residents may check the instance progress across the five continents at any time!”
“All Earth residents are urged to take active measures, complete quests, and defend Earth.” “All Earth residents are urged to take active measures, complete quests, and defend Earth.” “All Earth residents are urged to take active measures, complete quests, and defend Earth!”
After repeating the line three times like a hypnotic mantra, the female voice faded out, and two lines of specific data materialized on the system panel.
[Global Contamination Source Clearance Progress]:
[Asia: 150]
[Europe: 83]
[Africa: 78]
[Americas: 62]
[Oceania: 20]
[Global Contamination Source Purification Progress]
[Asia: 0]
[Europe: 0]
[Africa: 0]
[Americas: 0]
[Oceania: 0]
The five segments of footage corresponded precisely to the five continents.
Yu Zhi glanced down at the clearance progress tracker and watched as the number for Asia instantly ticked up by one, proving that the data refreshed in real-time.
He lowered his eyelashes, staring at Asia’s three-digit figure, his brows knitting tightly together.
The number of contamination sources cleared in Asia was at least double that of any other continent.
And that was just the number of cleared sources.
How staggering must the number of uncleared ones be?
“Liming, wait for me out here.”
Leaving the still-stupefied Lu Liming with those words, Yu Zhi pushed the door open and walked into the communications room.
There was only a single communication-type ability user inside, dressed in a white uniform. Likely shell-shocked by the footage the system had just broadcasted, the communicator looked up with a dazed expression. “You are?”
Yu Zhi handed over Shang Yu’s ID card. The communicator had clearly been briefed beforehand; snapping out of their daze, they said understandingly, “Which official at the main bureau would you like to reach?”
Yu Zhi: “The one named Ji.”
The communicator hesitated. “Do you mean Director Ji of the Combat Department?”
Yu Zhi: “Probably. Give it a shot and see if it goes through.”
Taking Shang Yu’s ID card, the communicator swiped it across a device to log the access, then picked up the telephone on the desk, activating their ability as they tapped the dialing pad.
As they punched in the numbers, they turned to Yu Zhi and noted, “The call duration is strictly capped at four minutes.”
Yu Zhi nodded, watching them place the call.
The moment the call connected, it was answered. The communicator tactfully stepped out of the room, leaving them with total privacy.
Ji Yangqiu’s slightly raspy voice crackled from the speaker. “Shang Yu?”
Yu Zhi: “It’s me.”
Recognizing the voice, Ji Yangqiu’s tone abruptly spiked an octave: “Yu… Yu Zhi?!”
“Why on earth are you calling me? Is that brat Fu Suxi anywhere near you?”
Yu Zhi ignored the question entirely, cutting straight to the point. “I know what Fu Suxi’s ability is.”
“Ability?” Ji Yangqiu paused, his tone shifting into mild amusement. “He used his ability in front of you? He’s never been one to hide it anyway, so it’s no surprise you found out. What kind of ability did he deploy against you…”
Hearing him play dumb, Yu Zhi enunciated each word with cold precision: “What I mean is, I know his true ability.”
Ji Yangqiu’s breath hitched.
[User “World’s No. 1 Cute Girl” is curious about the counterpart’s true ability and has gifted you 20 universal coins.]
[User “Big Socks” looks forward to your reveal and has gifted you 20 universal coins.]
[User “Scarecrow’s F***” is deeply skeptical of your claim.]
[User “momo” is curious as to how you found out about the counterpart’s ability and has gifted you 20 universal coins.]
At the mention of Fu Suxi’s ability, the chat section became noticeably hyperactive.
Yu Zhi swept a glance over the comments and said to the silent Ji Yangqiu, “I don’t particularly mind keeping my stream open and revealing it right here in front of everyone…”
Before he could even finish his sentence, Ji Yangqiu blurted out two words instantly: “No way.”
“Turn off the stream. You and I need to have a proper chat.”
Yu Zhi asked out of curiosity, “Do you have a special item for that? Or can your side actually force the system to temporarily suspend a livestream room?”
Ji Yangqiu didn’t offer a direct answer. Instead, Yu Zhi heard a sharp rustle of fabric over the line, followed by a sequence of frantic, heavy footsteps.
The very next second, he heard Ji Yangqiu bellow with theatrical, ringing emphasis: “I need to take a massive dump!”
Yu Zhi: “…”
And here he thought the guy had some sophisticated, highly specialized method.
“Then I guess I’ll join you.”
Ji Yangqiu: “…”
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