Chapter 165
Lu Chuan set off with several investigator squads toward the city.
Along the way, they inevitably ran into other types of Calamities.
Fortunately, Lu Chuan had been studying like mad, and he also “appropriately” showed off some of his skills, which gradually won the squad’s trust and recognition.
If he kept hiding his strength, they might have sent him back, forcing him to find another group—too much trouble.
For now, Lu Chuan was satisfied with this Dark Night Investigation Squad. The members were young and simple, the captain cold but decent and capable.
Anyone who’d worked odd jobs knew: whether a job was good or bad depended a lot on your boss and coworkers. If the leader took responsibility and the teammates didn’t dump work on you, it was worth sticking with.
Otherwise, even if the pay was good, if everyone around you was a pain, you’d still quit sooner or later.
Therefore, Lu Chuan had already decided to spend the early stages living with the Dark Night Squad.
When they went to the Investigator City, it was inevitable that the Dark Night Squad members would come into contact with other investigator squads, which naturally made it easier to gather information.
News about Wen Renxu was everywhere, but by now it had become distorted, practically turned into a myth.
So this time, what Lu Chuan was actually asking about was Starry Ming.
Starry Ming had entered this dungeon before him. Even if he had gone missing, he should have made quite a name for himself here.
And with Starry Ming’s personality, he definitely wouldn’t bother with a pseudonym. As long as one checked which people or squads had the name “Xingchen” in them, it should have been easy to find.
If he could locate Starry Ming first, then he’d have an extra ally in this dungeon.
However, strangely enough, no matter how Lu Chuan inquired, he couldn’t find any trace of Starry Ming— not even the slightest lead.
That shouldn’t be possible.
Starry Ming’s skills were solid, and he also had a player ability without any side effects. At the very least, he should have been considered a reserve for a legendary player. Plus, he wasn’t the type to just die off suddenly. For there to be no news at all was clearly abnormal.
That left only one possibility.
In this timeline, Starry Ming hadn’t arrived in this dungeon world yet.
Lu Chuan remembered very clearly—both Chen Ji and Cang Jiu had told him that in the dungeons of the [God of Time], the timelines were chaotic. Even if Starry Ming had entered this dungeon before him, his arrival point in time might not necessarily be earlier. With Lu Chuan’s arrival, it was possible that Starry Ming would later pick up some clue.
If that was the case, Lu Chuan thought, then he might need to adjust his style of doing things.
He thought about it a lot, but since he had no helper for now, he kept himself obedient and well-behaved for quite a while. This reassured the Dark Night Squad members, who concluded that this new intern knew his place after all.
“Actually, Little Lu, you don’t need to worry. Our Dark Night Squad may not be a famous investigation squad, but we do know some seniors in the city who can support us.” Ren Jie, the tall masked man, patted Lu Chuan on the shoulder with a simple smile. “Our squad is actually a branch team from a large investigation guild. We didn’t tell you earlier because we were afraid you might flaunt the name around. But since we’re almost at the city, it’s fine to tell you now.”
“Oh?” Lu Chuan looked at them curiously. “Which investigation guild are we from?”
“Of course, the Resurrection Guild.” Ren Jie laughed heartily. “You might not know this, but the founder of our Resurrection Guild was a legendary investigator, incredibly powerful. Unfortunately, the old man still died in a battle against an evil god. Later, we did produce one or two more legendary investigators, and we were once glorious. Sadly, we declined over time. Our Dark Night Squad captain is one of the guild’s outstanding investigators. But large guilds all have rules—aside from a few ace investigators who sit in and teach, other outstanding ones must eventually split off to form their own squads. They can’t stay in the guild forever. We always have to be on the frontlines against the evil gods.”
“That’s right. Other investigation guilds basically have the same rules,” Little Chun chimed in to confirm.
Lu Chuan twitched the corner of his mouth. Thank goodness Lilus hadn’t come along—otherwise, wouldn’t he be flying up to the heavens by now?
He hadn’t expected that he’d ended up in a guild set up by the Resurrection Guild.
Well, it made sense. The Master-Ranked players who entered the [Forbidden Zone of Humanity] dungeon almost all came from the five major Guilds. And since the Resurrection Guild was the strongest of them all, naturally, some of its players would be here.
“Is there a Xingchen Investigation Guild?” Lu Chuan asked curiously.
“Are you stupid? Our Investigator City is called Star City. Who’d dare name their guild after the city?” Little Chun couldn’t help but laugh.
Oh, right. Wen Renxu had even built a city.
Victory.
Lu Chuan’s sense of competitiveness was satisfied.
“By the way, we should also warn you early.” Little Chun stopped laughing and became serious. “Although there are many powerful investigators in Star City, there are also plenty of evil god cultists hiding inside. Almost every so often, evil gods stir up trouble. Especially newcomers like you—freshly joined to a squad—you’re often targeted by those cultists. In this city, don’t accept anything from strangers who come up to you. And if someone asks your name, never tell them your real one. Always use a pseudonym…”
According to Little Chun, evil god cultists especially liked targeting rookies like Lu Chuan—young investigators with weak willpower but great potential. They were always high-value targets.
Although Lu Chuan’s first impression hadn’t been great, over time he’d gradually adapted to investigator life and was even useful to the squad. So the Dark Night Squad members were willing to give him more reminders.
“Don’t worry, senior, I won’t be fooled that easily.” Lu Chuan lowered his head shyly.
Seeing him so bashful and honest-looking, the squad members became even more worried and decided to keep a closer eye on him to make sure he wouldn’t be tricked.
When they finally arrived at Star City, Lu Chuan discovered that its exterior was almost identical to Morningstar City, the headquarters of the Star Guild.
It seemed Wen Renxu really missed his guild.
But for players of the Star Guild, just entering this city gave them a sense of security—an encouragement for those who came after.
“Little Lu, wait here outside. Don’t go anywhere. We need to buy calming potions from the guild. Since you haven’t officially passed your internship yet, you’re not allowed to enter.” Little Chun and Ren Jie were worried. Originally, they’d planned to leave someone behind to watch him, while the rest went inside. But this time, the guild had called for all members to attend a meeting, so no one could stay behind.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine.” Lu Chuan waved them off. “You don’t trust me?”
Since his performance these days had been decent, Little Chun and the others reluctantly left him outside and went in.
As soon as they left, Lu Chuan cleaned himself up, put on an innocent and foolish demeanor, and started wandering the streets.
Evil god cultists, where are you? How could they pass up such an obviously gullible rookie?
Lu Chuan was penniless now. As an intern, he had no real income. So if he wanted some spare cash, he’d have to rob the robbers.
And who was a better target than evil god cultists?
He strutted down the streets, practically advertising that he was an intern investigator.
At first, the cultists suspected he was bait deliberately released to lure them, so they stayed put.
But soon they received word that many large investigation guilds were busy holding emergency meetings to plan joint action against evil gods. Only interns were left wandering outside, so it was unlikely to be a trap.
That’s when a few cultists tried approaching Lu Chuan.
At first, he pretended to be cautious. But after a few flattering words, he became arrogant.
What a perfect prey, the cultists thought.
What a fat sheep, Lu Chuan thought the same.
Half an hour later.
Lu Chuan burned the dead cultist to ashes, then carefully rummaged through his pack.
He burned all the dried meat—who knew if it was human?
The yellow powder he kept; it was useful.
There were also plenty of Eye ingots—white, red, and even a pair of black ones?
He pocketed everything.
“Tsk tsk, still a bit poor.”
Sigh, better take advantage of the time and lure a few more.
He changed into the cultist’s disguise, snuck into the city, and tricked a few more cultists into following him out, claiming he had caught a juicy intern.
By half a day’s work, his purse was finally full.
Meanwhile, Little Chun and Ren Jie returned from the meeting, both looking worried. Fortunately, they had managed to get enough calming potions to last for a while. If they hadn’t come, they might have missed this crucial news.
“Senior, you’re back!” Lu Chuan stood in front of the inn, looking delighted.
“Mhm. You’ve been waiting here this whole time? Good. Very obedient.” Little Chun saw him still standing at their meeting point. He thought the rookie seemed a bit dim, but at least he was obedient, which was better than most.
“Yes, I didn’t move an inch. Just waiting for you.” Lu Chuan said without batting an eye. “I’m timid by nature.”
