075
One weird entity, one human student.
Not only did they look identical, even their names were exactly the same.
After confirming this new discovery, Liu Jiang immediately got fired up with professional zeal. He left the crowd still noisily celebrating behind him and dragged Rao Fei straight toward Bureau Chief Zhao’s office.
The two ran into Zhao Yanhan on the way, who was heading in the opposite direction.
Ten minutes later,
The three of them returned to Zhao Yanhan’s office together.
As Rao Fei reported on this dungeon, Zhao Yanhan was equally surprised, and his expression turned serious and cautious.
After Rao Fei finished his report, Liu Jiang gave his.
Just as the reports were nearing their end, there was a knock at the Bureau Chief’s office door. Zhao Yanhan’s assistant came in.
The assistant held a dedicated phone issued by the Confidentiality Bureau. He walked to the desk and handed over his phone. “Bureau Chief Zhao, half an hour ago, a player posted on the forum, and it’s already been upvoted to the front page.”
The forum the assistant mentioned was the exchange platform mainly set up by the Confidentiality Bureau, exclusively for players to log in and use internally.
Because kind-hearted players often shared their dungeon experiences there, over time, players started calling it the 【Strange Tales Strategy Forum】.
The poster of this new thread was a level 12 player on the forum, with the fixed nickname 【Netbug】.
Speaking of this Netbug, he was indeed a player who gave the Confidentiality Bureau quite a headache.
He was currently the only wild player outside the Confidentiality Bureau’s registered player database who could still freely log into the Strange Tales Strategy Forum.
Before this, Netbug had even arrogantly tried to sneak into the Confidentiality Bureau’s intranet to check files.
Fortunately, the Confidentiality Bureau was one step ahead. All their files at A-grade confidentiality level and above were kept in paper form.
Later, the Confidentiality Bureau analyzed Netbug’s previous dungeon experience posts on the forum and concluded that Netbug himself was likely someone with exceptional computer talent.
Moreover, he had probably cleared the Su Consortium’s sub-dungeon 【Information Department Daily Routine】 with near-perfect results, obtaining a higher-level prop reward that no player had ever gotten before.
Some team members from the Confidentiality Bureau had entered that dungeon before. Many in the Bureau still remembered the scene that member described after exiting: fusing oneself with the network, able to travel anywhere there was a connection.
That description matched perfectly with Netbug’s arrogant behavior ever since he appeared.
When Rao Fei heard the assistant say the poster was Netbug, he got interested too. He paused and craned his neck to complain, “What nonsense is that troublemaker posting on the forum this time?”
Zhao Yanhan took the phone and looked down.
【Netbug 12LV: Phew, scared me to death. I almost really died in the dungeon this time! I declare, from today on, Supervisor Su is my male god!】
【1L: ? Big Bug, you were in a dungeon too?!】
【2L: Wuwuwu, found my people! When I got back, I felt like I was dreaming, so I slapped myself hard twice. My face is still swollen.】
【3L: First thing after realizing I’m alive: check the forum +1】
【8L: He said he’d send us home, and he really did…】
【9L: Don’t you have your own male god up there? Why steal mine?】
【10L: Don’t you have your own male god up there? Why steal mine?】
…
【56L: ?? What are you all even talking about? Can someone explain clearly? What’s this male god? How did you find your people with Netbug? What exactly did he do!】
【57L: Same as above. Can someone explain it to this kid? I’m dying without the gossip!】
【59L: !!! Those who didn’t get it earlier, now after seeing my cousin who just came out of his dungeon, I think I get it too. No way! Why does it feel like a fairy tale? If it’s real, they were so lucky this time. Honestly, I’m jealous.】
【60L: What are you all talking about!!】
At the same time this post shot to the top of the front page, the post right below it was also heating up.
【Upside-Down Monster Chopper LV9: Wait, can someone tell me what the post next door is even saying! This kid is really anxious! Who the hell is Big Bug’s male god Supervisor Su?!】
【1L: First! Anxious anxious anxious, super urgent, express delivery! Who is Big Bug’s male god +1】
【2L: Oh that? Check the post next door. Seems like Netbug and them are talking about a dungeon they just went through. Who is Big Bug’s male god +2】
【3L: ? Aren’t we all fixed nicknames on this forum? +3】
【4L: Above is capping. If they all just came out of the same dungeon, hiss, that’s a huge-scale one. +4】
【5L: I heard rumors there’s been a large-scale dungeon lately, but even that didn’t have more than 150 players. +5】
【6L: Doesn’t that mean… +6】
【7L: Hiss! That survival rate, hiss! Terrifying! +7】
【8L: Here we go, summary time. I just heard from my cousin. He joined a large-scale idol selection dungeon this time. 104 players total in the dungeon. Per the rules, only 9 could survive and clear in the end. He dropped at the second-to-last grand performance. He’s basically a newbie, mentally couldn’t handle that kind of dungeon. Thought he was done for this time, but nope! The weird entity acting as supervisor on his floor fished them all out of the dungeon!】
Get the value of fishing everyone out?
If that’s not a male god, what is?
【9L: Wait, upstairs, let me process, I need to process.】
【10L: Floor 8, you saying your bro was in a large-scale idol selection dungeon, about to die and get assimilated, then some big daddy swoops in and fishes out all the players including your bro?】
【11L: Exactly. Sounds like a fairy tale, right? If my bro wasn’t so dead serious about it, I wouldn’t believe it.】
【12L: Upstairs don’t fool me. Even the nicest weird entities we’ve met are nasty as hell. A big daddy like that?】
Few players in the thread believed Floor 8’s story. Most thought Floor 8 was making up tales for fun.
Until Netbug, who should’ve been “finding family” in his own thread, floated over and personally verified everything Floor 8 said.
The forum instantly exploded.
Seeing Bureau Chief Zhao and Rao Fei both seriously reading the posts, the assistant cautiously suggested, “Bureau Chief Zhao, how about you use the authority of Weird Item No. 97 to delete these two posts?”
Mainly because if these two posts stayed on the forum, they might mislead some less experienced new players.
As the Confidentiality Bureau’s understanding of the weird world deepened, they learned that weird entities varied just like people—any personality or preference was possible.
But even the most cooperative writer weird they’d met had intentionally or otherwise fed them plenty of fake info to satisfy its twisted sense of humor.
So, they absolutely couldn’t let inexperienced new players get the idea that weird entities were easy to deal with.
Zhao Yanhan considered the assistant’s suggestion for a moment, then shook his head. “Weird Item No. 97 can ban Netbug for a month, but it can’t permanently revoke his network access.”
“Besides, the Central Bureau decided at their last meeting to gradually loosen data access for all players. Go pin a link on the forum later. Compile all the Confidentiality Bureau’s dealings with weird entities over the years—A+ grade and below—and post it.”
“Let the players analyze the pros and cons themselves. It’s their lives on the line; they’ll be cautious. The Strange Talk World is pulling in more and more players. The Confidentiality Bureau can’t keep babysitting them forever.”
“Also, contact Netbug. Tell him not to reveal too many specific traits of 【Star Sequence】. Lest some player runs into him in a dungeon later, mishandles communication, and causes serious trouble.”
【Star Sequence】
The codename Zhao Yanhan had just given this mysterious weird teenage boy based on the name ‘Su Ximu’.
Rao Fei nodded deeply in agreement with Bureau Chief Zhao’s arrangements.
That teenage weird entity’s appearance was far too deceptive. It always made people unconsciously think he was harmless.
But in reality, he was the first existence since the Bureau’s founding to send players out of a dungeon completely unharmed. How weak could that strength be?
He also had a hobby of wandering between dungeons. If any player pissed him off, there’d be big trouble.
“Regarding 【Star Sequence】’s exact identity and his connection to that missing student named Su Ximu, I suggest that if you encounter him in a dungeon next time, just ask him directly.”
Hearing Bureau Chief Zhao say that, Rao Fei was stunned. “Directly ask?”
That straightforward?
Zhao Yanhan nodded. “Yes, directly ask.”
“Third Brother, what do you want to ask me?” Su Ximu, whom Third Brother had brought to the studio at home, asked curiously.
After leaving Bizarre Island, he had returned home with his brothers.
Big Brother, Second Brother, and Third Brother all meant that he’d been working two jobs lately and was exhausted. He needed to rest properly next.
So, he rested at home until he naturally woke up the next day in bed. After breakfast, Third Brother took him to the studio just like last time.
Su Jianglou walked to a painting covered by a cloth, pulled it off. “We’ll talk about this later. Xibao, come take a look at how this painting turned out?”
Su Ximu leaned in as instructed.
The painting was a family portrait.
It had him, Big Brother, Second Brother, and Third Brother.
And the villa they lived in now.
Next to the huge family portrait sat the portrait of Su Ximu from when he was little.
Looking at this painting, Su Ximu suddenly remembered his childhood, when he taught Third Brother to draw, and they painted together at Grandpa’s house.
Compared to the stick figures he could only draw back then, Third Brother now was insanely skilled.
And because of the emotions he poured into it, no other painter with equal technique could replicate it.
“Third Brother, can we hang this painting on the living room wall at home?”
Just from that one sentence, Su Jianglou heard Xibao’s fondness for the painting. He smiled and agreed, then turned his gaze to the single portrait.
That was the inspiration Xibao had given him on his second day here.
Thinking back now, Su Jianglou still couldn’t figure it out. Back then, he could already paint Xibao’s childhood appearance based on that inspiration from Xibao. Why had he stubbornly insisted, as a Weird, that Xibao wasn’t Xibao?
Su Jianglou couldn’t figure it out.
He had avoided this issue for several days now. The day he woke up from Second Brother’s dungeon, with Xibao focused on his injured arm, he hesitated for a long time but still didn’t voice what he wanted to say.
But avoiding the issue wouldn’t make it disappear.
Same studio, same spot.
While Su Ximu was still looking at the family portrait, Su Jianglou finally spoke. “Xibao, I’m sorry.”
“Hm?” The teen turned his head in confusion.
Su Jianglou thought back to what Big Brother had told him: among the countless worlds swallowed by the weird world, there might be countless Su Ximus, but none were his Xibao. No one could replace Xibao.
He had agreed with Big Brother back then, but hadn’t taken it too seriously.
Because he was certain Xibao was one-of-a-kind in his heart.
He had just missed Xibao so much that he wanted to make a doll that looked like Xibao.
The two weren’t in conflict—one was his brother, the other a doll. He could tell them apart.
But in reality…
“I apologize for my deception, my arrogance, and my indifference.”
“I also apologize for subconsciously avoiding you all this time.”
Although he had found Xiao Xi.
At the same time, he had also bullied Xiao Xi.
From the day he truly learned to think until now, this was the little brother he had always wanted to protect with his life, with everything he had.
But when he truly arrived in this world, the first person to bully and deceive him was himself.
Su Ximu quietly listened to Third Brother’s confession, his gaze shifting between the two paintings in front of him.
The brushstrokes on both paintings were very delicate. The family portrait was much larger than the single portrait beside it, and it was clear the painter had put a great deal of effort into it.
Once Third Brother finished pouring out all his heartfelt words and stood there with a sad and dejected expression, Su Ximu did not respond right away.
He thought about it seriously too, pondering for a good while before he spoke: “Mm… thinking about it that way, I was a bit angry.”
Especially the Video Tape incident.
He had only now fully understood the truth!
How could Third Brother just casually say it and saddle him with a massive debt of over five billion?
However…
“Third Brother, you’ve already apologized to me.”
The youth took two steps forward, solemnly extended his hand, and proactively shook hands with Third Brother: “Then I’ll say it’s okay.”
“It’s okay~
Third Brother, I forgive you.”
“And thank you.”
Su Jianglou quietly awaited his verdict.
What came instead was a hand grasping his own.
In a daze, he felt his arm burning with intense pain once more, just like when he was little.
The hand Xiao Xi held was like that bottle of medicine back then—a gentle grip that stopped the pain for him again.
He subconsciously asked: “Why thank me?”
This time the youth smiled, his eyes curving into crescents: “Thank you, Third Brother, for bringing me home.”
And thanks to the Third Brother who had only been a little older than him back then. Even after the Wasteland World shattered, he had endured such a painful, arduous journey and still strove to become who he was now.
“Just like this family portrait—its complete form is really beautiful.”
“Third Brother, let’s hug. From now on, no one will mind this anymore, okay?”
“Every day after this, we have to be happy~”
Su Jianglou looked at the youth in front of him, arms open toward him. He opened his own arms, hugged him tight, and rumbled: “Okay.”
Outside the painting studio door, Su Xuanxiao and Su Wuzi stood there.
Su Wuzi watched Jiang Lou like that and held himself back from going forward.
