Chapter 305: Happy Water

In the morning, Yan Jing exited the inner world to check on the surface world.

Wang Changnian had already prepared the fourth-tier Rite of Summer and Winter Sacrifices; it would arrive in about two days.

According to him, there was a massive surprise in store for Yan Jing.

The next dungeon was a team format.

Teacher Shen had already gone to recruit people. The previous dungeon in Huang Family Village made Yan Jing realize there might be another way to approach dungeons.

Compared to scheming against a group of unfamiliar players, cooperation might be a much simpler method.

Of course, they had to be obedient and have thoroughly vetted backgrounds.

The dinner banquet was set for six o'clock; he still had some time.

By now, he had switched his identity and returned to the street in Muke District where he first disappeared.

He retrieved the information component that Fei Yu had left nearby the night before.

The information component held the 5,000 eerie points he had transferred into it ahead of time.

Peace Heavenly Kingdom had this advantage: in a nation that placed such high value on information confidentiality, payment records left no trace.

There was certainly no integrated system monitoring them.

Account security and protection against counterfeit currency relied entirely on the confidence that no one could crack an information component.

Rumor had it that the anti-parsing function was the small device's sole protective measure.

With the information component in hand, Yan Jing opened the official website of the Market Supervision Bureau and got to work.

He was going to register a company.

The moment he clicked onto the website and entered the registration process, he was greeted by a form.

[Please enter the name of the company you are registering]

...

...

Surface world.

Villa district.

Shen Youran dialed a number.

"Hello? What do you want?"

A lazy voice sounded from the other end of the line.

The two must have been very close, skipping any titles or formalities.

"Do you have any plans to enter a dungeon lately?"

Shen Youran asked.

"No, none at all."

The voice replied leisurely, "Come to think of it, I haven't entered a dungeon in years."

"You know I'm the laziest one in our team. In the later stages, my tier fell so far behind that I could only carry newbies, right?"

"Now I just play games and watch movies all day. I'm doing pretty well."

Shen Youran sighed.

"You never thought about finding a new team and running a dungeon again?"

"Don't! Please don't!"

The voice protested.

"Teams, interpersonal relationships, all that stuff is the most troublesome thing in the world."

"Big Sister Shen, do you think we're still teenagers? Shouting about friendship and bonds before rushing up to hack the boss to death? Give me a break."

"Last year, I already resigned from my status as a seed in the Fourth Ring Domain."

"Things are fine just the way they are. I'm begging you, Big Sister Shen, don't find work for me."

"..."

Shen Youran fell silent.

She knew his personality well, but fourth-tier individuals could only team up with other fourth-tiers. Among the fourth-tiers she trusted, the person on the phone was the best candidate for this dungeon.

Just as he was about to hang up, Shen Youran spoke again.

"I remember you had a national idol you really liked. She retired a few years ago, right?"

"Why bring that up?"

He pretended to sound nonchalant.

But his heart involuntarily began to pound.

"I recall she should be staying in the Fifth Ring Domain,"

Shen Youran said.

"Are you saying..."

"You're going to arrange for her to meet me?!"

His voice grew noticeably excited, but the tone immediately dropped again.

"Stop kidding around. If you were still the Eldest Miss Shen from back then, it might be possible, but now... Heh..."

"I'm serious. You have ten seconds to consider. You know I don't like to lie, especially to my friends."

Shen Youran started counting.

"Ten, nine, eight..."

"Deal!"

He agreed with absolute finality.

"Good. But let's get this straight beforehand—this time, you have to listen to my person."

"I listen to him?!"

He was incredulous. He originally thought Shen Youran was getting him to babysit a kid, but it turned out he was the one being led?

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible! Back in Zhoulin, I only listened to five or six people at most. Now you want me to listen to a newbie?! Absolutely impossible!"

"..."

Shen Youran rubbed her temples. "I'll add having a meal with that idol."

"Deal!"

He promised, "Don't worry. For this dungeon, if he points east, I won't go west. If he points south, I won't go north. Unless it's a suicidal decision, whatever he says goes."

"..."

Shen Youran stated, "I'll send you the dungeon details later. You enter the dungeon at the end of this month. Once it's over, I'll arrange for you to meet her."

With that, Shen Youran hung up the phone.

She picked up the laptop next to her and opened her email.

She began to search carefully through it.

She remembered that this idol had contacted her previously, saying she wanted to meet her Xiao Yanzi and have a meal together.

As for why...

The reason was quite simple. This former idol had a grudge against the holy maiden of the Precognition Society.

And that woman had been driven crazy by Xiao Yanzi.

"..."

At the thought of this, she unconsciously pursed her lips.

It felt like she had just sold out her own man.

"Actually, it isn't really selling him out. It's just a meal. He won't lose a piece of flesh over it, and the other party just wants to thank Xiao Yanzi..."

"It should be fine."

...

...

Yan Jing filled out all the forms and pressed the register button.

On the Holographic Screen projected by the information component, a circle began to spin.

This reminded Yan Jing of the computer screen back when he was in the basement. It had slowly spun around just like this, eating away at the viewer's patience bit by bit.

But this time was different. There were two very user-friendly designs at the bottom of the screen.

One was a progress display.

The other was...

[Insert Coins to Accelerate]

An eye-catching button bounced up and down below the circle.

"Heh."

Yan Jing let out a cold laugh.

It had picked the wrong person this time.

As it happened, he was a very patient person.

An hour later.

With a dark expression, Yan Jing swiped away 5 eerie points.

The 6% progress immediately shot up to 99%.

Fortunately, the 99% didn't tick over to 99.1% next.

Yan Jing successfully completed the registration.

Just as he breathed a sigh of relief, he suddenly saw a figure waving at him from a distance.

It was the girl named Tianwei from last time. She was currently leaning out of the coconut water stall's window, waving in his direction.

After a moment of thought, Yan Jing walked over.

"Good afternoon, sir!"

Tianwei was delighted when she saw Yan Jing finally notice her.

"Good afternoon."

Yan Jing smiled.

"I saw you fiddling with your information component over there for a long time. Did you run into some trouble?"

Tianwei had been waving at him nonstop ever since she accidentally spotted him, but Yan Jing had been too focused on that loading circle to notice.

"No, not at all."

Yan Jing smiled.

"Are you on the day shift today?"

"Yes, yes!"

Tianwei's gaze wandered over Yan Jing. "Do you have time tonight, sir? I thought we could go finish the drinks we didn't finish last time."

"Thank you so much for your gift last time! I'll cover all our expenses tonight!"

Yan Jing heard the topic he wanted to hear and smiled.

"Did that piece of ore from last time end up getting you what you wanted?"

"Mhm!"

Tianwei nodded vigorously.

"It was too valuable! I really don't know how to thank you!"

She had only processed a third of the ore in batches, yet she had exchanged it for several thousand eerie points!

If it hadn't been for not wanting to draw suspicion, she would have quit her job a long time ago.

At the thought of this, she grew even more embarrassed.

"Sir... that thing from last time... it was... it was a gift, right?"

It couldn't have been something he accidentally dropped on the ground, could it...

If she had to give it back, she really wouldn't be able to bear it.

"Of course it was a gift."

Yan Jing smiled. "In fact, I had just returned to the country from abroad, so I only brought that kind of ore with me. I didn't even have any eerie points. Thank you so much for helping me out of that situation."

Wow!

Tianwei's eyes shone brightly.

She hadn't expected this traditionally-dressed man before her to be a highly eligible bachelor!

"So... so... you aren't a pseudo-native species? You're... an original species?!"

Tianwei's mouth hung slightly open in disbelief.

She had actually met a true original species.

"That's a secret."

Yan Jing placed a finger against his lips, and Tianwei's face instantly flushed red.

She hadn't had many hobbies growing up; she just had a weakness for handsome people.

Swallowing hard, she looked at Yan Jing.

"Those eerie points from last time were nothing. Thank you so much."

With that, she bowed to Yan Jing in gratitude.

"No, it's fine."

Yan Jing said.

"Could you tell me how you processed the ore? I rarely visit Muke District, so I'm not very familiar with the local market."

"Yes, of course!"

Tianwei nodded vigorously and then recounted her methods to Yan Jing in detail.

If it had been before, when he hadn't understood how the Heavenly Kingdom worked, Yan Jing might have genuinely just listened to her methods and tried them out later.

But after inheriting Mao Si's memories, he instantly picked up on something wrong.

This woman in front of him had likely already been targeted by someone.

Especially after hearing that the other party had increased her credit limit to raise the transaction cap. Fourth Young Master Cat's long experiences mingling in the underground factions told him this was a trap.

A pig-butchering scam.

But the woman opposite him clearly hadn't realized this.

"Sir, I know a place that sells Happy Water. Let's go grab a glass later. My treat."

"Is it decent Happy Water, or indecent Happy Water?"

Yan Jing smiled.

At these words, a look of surprise washed over the woman's face.

"Sir, you actually know about the indecent Happy Water?"

"Of course it's decent Happy Water! At most, there are some stimulants in it. The additives won't harm us Smart Seeds at all!"

After she finished speaking, she made a point to warn Yan Jing.

"Sir, you absolutely must not try that indecent Happy Water!"

"I heard that kind of Happy Water isn't even Happy Water anymore—it's addictive!"

"Just think about those Smart Seeds who undergo mechanical rampage, or the bionic species with genetic diseases. Drink too much, and you'll turn out just like them!"

"However..."

"The indecent Happy Water that recently appeared in our Muke District doesn't seem to have caused that phenomenon yet, but we still have to be careful!"

Yan Jing nodded with a smile.

"Then do you know where the indecent kind is sold?"

To his surprise, the woman nodded and lowered her voice.

"I do. They have it near my house."