Chapter 390: A Simple Task (Two in One)

Looking at Yan Jing, Tianxuan's eyes flickered. An instant later, the smile returned to her face.

"It seems I'm in luck, managing to summon such a strong human to help me."

"The tier I set was the Fifth Tier, so you—"

Tianxuan didn't finish her sentence, but her eyes said it all.

Yan Jing smiled.

"Exactly as you think."

Tianxuan never expected to be this unlucky.

The events of the last Sin Live Broadcast were known to everyone—it had been a game with universal participation.

In the end, humans swept the top three spots. This led to Gu Yi, the Heavenly Kingdom councilor who proposed the bill, being harshly reprimanded by the president. He was completely stripped of his power, guaranteeing with almost one hundred percent certainty that he would lose the upcoming election. He was now running around begging for emergency help.

News like this was hardly a secret among the councilors.

But Tianxuan knew something that could truly be called a secret.

Very few people knew that during that Sin Live Broadcast, a Sixth Tier "artificial human" from Nuochen Biotech had disappeared.

They had vanished completely. According to her informant inside Nuochen Biotech, that "artificial human" was most likely dead.

As for why they died—

The informant only mentioned that the Sixth Tier had participated in the broadcast as a guardian. In all likelihood, they had been killed by a player.

A Fourth Tier killing a Sixth Tier. When she first heard this, her subconscious reaction was that it was impossible.

Seeing Yan Jing at this moment, that piece of news inexplicably surfaced in her mind, leaving her with the involuntary urge to test him.

Thus, she followed up on his response. "It seems I hit the jackpot. After all, Mr. Yan is someone capable of killing a Sixth Tier while only at the Fourth Tier."

She stared intently at Yan Jing's expression as she spoke, hoping to discern something.

But Yan Jing merely smiled faintly.

"You must be joking. The highest level participant last time was only at the Fifth Tier. You must have remembered wrong."

"..."

Tianxuan couldn't spot any clues, but her internal vigilance didn't decrease in the slightest.

Even if Yan Jing really wasn't the one who killed the Sixth Tier, the combat power he had displayed at the Fourth Tier was unquestionable. Now that he had reached the Fifth Tier, Tianxuan, having watched the entire broadcast, couldn't bring herself to say she had a hundred percent certainty of beating him.

"Sigh..."

If the summoned person was weaker than her, then naturally, the stronger the better. But if their strength was comparable to hers, that wasn't a good thing.

"Mr. Yan, there are some things I want to discuss with you first. After all, you are somewhat different from other humans. I'll be honest: I don't want any major conflicts with you."

Tianxuan looked at Yan Jing.

Yan Jing smiled.

"You are right. It's just that I don't even know your name yet, so it's probably a bit early for all this."

"Tianxuan."

Tianxuan's smile was warm.

"Seven Stars, Tianxuan."

"The task this time is very simple. I assure you, it will only take a tiny bit of effort to complete."

As if on cue, a strong gust of wind suddenly blew in from the balcony. Tianxuan's white dress fluttered high into the air. By the time it settled, a book had appeared in her hands.

The book was very bizarre—not in its shape or style, but in the feeling it gave Yan Jing. It was as if it didn't belong to this dimension. It flickered between illusion and reality, surrounded by drifting dark dust that made it seem as though it existed within its own unique, pitch-black space.

Looking at the book, Yan Jing's smile grew a bit brighter.

Tianxuan opened the book and lightly traced her finger across the page.

Soon, a system prompt appeared in front of Yan Jing.

[You have received a task from a mysterious entity.]

[In recent years, Nuochen Biotech has completely disregarded environmental protection laws, building factories in multiple Anthills (slums) within the Peace Heavenly Kingdom and illegally discharging pollution. This has caused safety accidents in various locations, ruining the families of many Anthill residents. Currently, Tianxuan has spread the pollution from one factory and is preparing to use the power of public opinion to deal a severe blow to Nuochen Biotech. She has given you the following tasks:]

1. Host a ten-minute live broadcast to announce your identity and declare that you belong to Nuochen Biotech. State that your previous actions during the Sin Live Broadcast were also under the direction of Nuochen Biotech, and provide detailed explanations to inquiries in the live chat (furthermore, you may not host another broadcast during the Dungeon phase to retract this statement).

2. Help her further spread the pollution (the extent of the spread will affect the rating of this Dungeon).

[After system review, the survival probability, difficulty, and the other party's required scale for these two tasks all meet the standards. They can serve as your tasks for Stage A of this Dungeon.]

Yan Jing looked at these two tasks and blinked, growing even more curious about the book in Tianxuan's hands.

Not only could that book summon a human to the Inner World to help, it could even communicate with the system to issue and render tasks.

Moreover, it looked very official, setting restrictions on the task's difficulty and survival probability.

This was undeniably a good item.

Yan Jing smiled and nodded.

"Both of these things are very simple. I don't see any problem."

"Then here's to a pleasant cooperation."

A bright smile broke across Tianxuan's face.

She had guessed right.

The guy in front of her was completely unscrupulous. So-called public order and good morals were no restriction to him. Furthermore, as a human, he wouldn't care about the life or death of inner world residents, let alone possess any concept of good and evil.

As long as his own interests weren't touched, there wouldn't be any problems.

Therefore, she had modified the tasks on the fly, lowering the difficulty a bit while also taking advantage of the influence Yan Jing had left behind during his last foray into the Inner World.

It was killing two birds with one stone.

"However, there is no time limit on this task, so I plan to reveal my identity right before I exit the Dungeon. Is that okay?"

Yan Jing asked with a smile.

"No problem."

Tianxuan nodded.

"To be exact, that suits me perfectly. Let's go do the second task first."

Outside a massive factory, Tianxuan led Yan Jing around to a hidden secret door. She gently extended her hand, and countless mechanical wires shot out from her palm. They quickly felt around the wall, found the keyhole of the secret door, and inserted themselves with precision.

A second or two later, the secret door opened, and the two walked inside.

Inside was a long, narrow secret passage. The two walked all the way to the deepest part, where their field of vision suddenly opened up.

"Splash, splash, splash..."

The sound of rushing water came from above. On the towering, wide walls, several thick water pipes were discharging foul-smelling liquid into the pool below.

The pitch-black, murky water looked as if tons of feces were piling up and fermenting, mixed with damp rags and emitting a nauseating stench.

Tianxuan looked at the bubbles forming on the water's surface and said coldly, "This is this factory's sewage discharge outlet."

"I've detected eight or nine more discharge outlets like this one. This place connects directly to the groundwater, which will facilitate a deeper level of diffusion at the bottom."

"So you're preparing to—"

Yan Jing's eyes flickered.

Tianxuan took out a bottle of potion and poured it into the sewage outlet.

A small, glowing patch appeared on the originally pitch-black surface of the water.

"This is the Deep-Level Pollution Potion. It can accelerate the spread of pollution and increase the degree of contamination, but it has a flaw."

Tianxuan paused and extended her hand. Several mechanical wires stretched out, entering the water and beginning to stir. Along with her stirring, that small, glowing patch of potion gradually began to spread.

"Namely, its inherent miscibility isn't very good."

"Therefore, the initial mixing requires manual stirring. This kind of stirring needs to last for several hours, and it cannot create too much noise."

"As you can see, the structure of this mixing pool is similar to a sound amplification device. If the sound of stirring exceeds the decibel level of normal speech, it might attract attention. Additionally, there are flow rate monitors at the bottom of the pool."

"Did you just shiver?" Yan Jing asked, looking at Tianxuan and abruptly steering the conversation in a strange direction.

"No," Tianxuan said, maintaining her smile.

"Right when you stuck those wires into the water," Yan Jing said.

"You must have seen wrong." Tianxuan's expression was entirely natural.

"That's not important. Did you understand what I just said?"

Yan Jing nodded.

"Got it. So the stirring speed can't be too fast either."

Tianxuan said, "Yes. This is why I summoned you here. I need someone with precise control over weird energy to help me stir in other locations. I don't trust anyone else, and I don't want too many people involved."

"Absolutely no problem."

Yan Jing smiled.

"Just leave it to me."

"Do these kinds of secret rooms have any distinct features? Just to make them easier for me to find."

"They do," Tianxuan said, detailing all the characteristics of the secret rooms.

Yan Jing pulled out a notepad and jotted them down one by one.

"You really don't need to be so detailed."

Tianxuan covered her mouth and chuckled.

But Yan Jing's expression was very serious.

"It's better to be detailed."

Hearing this, although Tianxuan didn't show it, she felt quite pleased internally. She felt that the Yan Jing in front of her wasn't as difficult to get along with as he had appeared during the broadcast. He was even more reliable than many humans she had interacted with.

After Yan Jing finished taking notes, he asked Tianxuan, "Do you know who the person in charge of this factory is? Who built this secret room?"

"It's Luo Mao from Nuochen Biotech. He is both the person in charge of this factory and the builder of this secret room. Besides that—"

Tianxuan paused halfway through her answer, growing suspicious of Yan Jing's serious demeanor.

"Why are you asking this?"

She looked at Yan Jing, a smile resting on her mature, charming face.

"If I turn on the live chat and say I'm from Nuochen Biotech, and people ask whose subordinate I am, I have to give an answer, right? If they ask me for details about this secret room, I have to be able to say a few things."

Yan Jing laughed.

This reason convinced Tianxuan, dispelling most of her suspicion. Of course, it was mostly because she couldn't find a motive for Yan Jing to betray her.

A person like him, who would tie everyone up just to get first place in a Dungeon, was unlikely to compromise his own Dungeon rating for anything else.

Even so, she kept her guard up, only telling Yan Jing their names without revealing any more details.

This way, even if Yan Jing really intended to turn on her, he wouldn't have any evidence, and he only knew a name anyway.

At most, she would only be separated from him for today. It was impossible for him to get in touch with the company higher-ups to obtain their information.

"This is enough."

Yan Jing took the five bottles Tianxuan handed over, smiling and nodding. "Then I'll see you in a day, Ms. Tianxuan. I hope you have a happy day."

With that, Yan Jing turned and left, his figure quickly vanishing into the darkness.

Tianxuan watched Yan Jing's retreating back and pursed her lips, ultimately still feeling a bit uneasy. She then dialed a number on her Information Component, and soon, a very young-sounding voice came through her earpiece.

"Hello? Are you done linking up with that human?"

"Yes, but the situation is a bit special—"

Tianxuan quickly recounted her encounter with Yan Jing.

Hearing this, Kaiyang on the other end was momentarily stunned before saying, "So what do you want me to do now?"

"I want you to follow him and confirm his whereabouts."

Kaiyang replied, "That's not a problem—"

"But if I do that, who's going to spread the pollution?"

In truth, spreading the pollution had always been Kaiyang's job. Tianxuan was somewhat of a neat freak and simply couldn't stand the smell of these secret rooms.

"I'll do it."

Tianxuan decided to brave it, her eyes flashing.

Kaiyang was a bit shocked.

"No way, right? Why don't you just go track that human yourself?"

"I'm unsure about his strength, but if it's you—at the very least, it's impossible for him to beat you."

Tianxuan said.

Kaiyang, also known as the Wuqu Star.

In her partnership with Kaiyang, Kaiyang was the one in charge of this kind of violent work.

Earlier, she had only trembled slightly due to her mysophobia. On any normal day, such a movement wouldn't even compare to a light breeze blowing past, yet Yan Jing had noticed it. This made her increasingly uneasy about him.

"Alright then."

Kaiyang said.

"Don't hang up the earpiece. Keep in touch."

"Okay."

Soon, Tianxuan began to forcefully suppress her discomfort. She extended her mechanical wires and placed them into the water, her body shuddering once more.

Several minutes later.

A message came from Kaiyang's side.

"He entered the secret room. He looks pretty well-behaved to me. How about I also get to work? We can finish faster with the two of us."

"No, keep watching him."

As soon as Tianxuan spoke, she couldn't hold it in and gagged slightly.

Turning off her olfactory system to block out this kind of stench was useless. Mysophobia was a psychological condition, and she felt awful all over.

Peace Heavenly Kingdom, in an office.

Mao Si handed the notebook delivered by Xiao Xin to Zeng Qing.

"For you."

"What's this?"

Zeng Qing looked up, her face as haggard as a zombie's.

Since yesterday, she had been continuously organizing the relevant materials, dispatching lawyers and personnel, and even personally coordinating with the lawyers to ensure their demands were clearly communicated.

The first trial was starting tomorrow, and she didn't want to waste a single second.

"You'll know once you look at it."

Yan Jing jumped straight onto the desk and sat down.

"Have you gotten in touch with that councilor?"

"Don't mention it."

Zeng Qing sighed.

"Our luck isn't very good. When I spoke with her on the phone this morning, things were going quite well. But for some reason, she changed her mind in the afternoon. She seemed to be feeling unwell, so she rescheduled for tomorrow morning."

"It's probably true. Even her voice didn't sound right when I listened."

"The trial is tomorrow afternoon. I just hope the timing won't be too rushed."

"Hopefully." Yan Jing stretched out his paw and tapped the notebook in front of him.

"Take a look. But we need to make things clear beforehand—you have to listen to me on some matters..."

"Councilor Crocodile."

In a certain Anthill, inside a "house" woven from various colored old canvases and steel bars, an elderly Smart Seed and his wife were bowing to the standing Crocodile.

"We are truly grateful to you this time. If it weren't for you, we wouldn't know what to do."

"We really—really caused you a lot of trouble—Councilor Crocodile."

The Smart Seed in front of him had only undergone mechanical modifications to his hands. His entire person looked very much like an original species, except that he lacked the money to buy pseudo-native species skin. As a result, he was extremely elderly and frail, needing to pant heavily after speaking just a few words.

His old companion beside him was in a similar state, constantly wiping her tears.

The two had long lost contact with their son. They only had one granddaughter, but she had also died half a month ago.

The cause of death was precisely biological genetic disease.

The granddaughter had just turned five.

Now she was just a handful of dirt.

"It's fine, it's fine. Set your minds at ease. There will be justice."

Crocodile kindly comforted the two of them, then stepped out of the "room."

Standing within the Anthill, he looked up at the faintly discernible red moon in the sky and sighed.

"Where is justice... where is justice..."

Some people's sorrow meant weeping in the Tower, while others' sorrow meant weeping in the Anthill.

They were not the same people, nor was it the same kind of sorrow.