Chapter 109

Xu Wei was initially hesitant when Su Ximu came to find him and told him that he could send a few players out of the dungeon early each day, then asked if he wanted to leave early.

It was mainly because he was a very responsible person. He subconsciously thought that if he left ahead of time, the other players in the game hall, who weren’t skilled at gathering supplies, would probably go hungry.

But soon, after another player made some sarcastic remarks to him again, he suddenly saw the light.

Although he didn’t know why the strength gap between people could be so vast, from what he had seen and heard over these past few days, he could easily judge that his classmate from the same school had nearly cleared and taken control of this dungeon without a boss in just a few days.

Because of that, not only was his own safety guaranteed, but so was that of the other players in the game hall. The difference was probably just that those people had been scared witless by the weirds from the start and were unwilling to step out of the safe zone.

But it was said that players selected by the dungeon were players for life. This terrifying fact had been confirmed by Su Ximu, an experienced player. It was indeed true.

With that in mind, Xu Wei thought that even Ma Bin, a former injured player, had learned the news and spent the last couple of days pushing through his fear to go out with him in search of food. Yet the others were still huddled in the game hall.

They were afraid to even venture out and train in this rare safe environment they had now—what would they do later?

Did they really think they’d always be lucky enough to run into experienced players willing to protect them every time?

With these thoughts, Xu Wei simply cast aside his so-called sense of responsibility and stopped caring about those people.

After all, they wouldn’t die; they’d just go hungry for a couple of meals.

Once they got hungry enough, they’d learn to go out and find food on their own.

As a total newbie who had just arrived, Xu Wei kept a very low profile. He didn’t talk much in the conference room, just perked up his ears to listen and kept his eyes peeled, holding back even if he had some small questions.

But today’s meeting was destined not to go entirely smoothly.

When Ma Sui learned from Tao Xi that his nephew Ma Bin had been injured in the dungeon but was currently fine, he regained some of his calm. He clutched the gift list and forced himself to sit back down in his chair.

Tao Xi, who had been interrupted, continued describing his dungeon adventure.

“Tanzhong University’s first day of school, which was the third day we entered the dungeon! Here’s the key part—Xu Wei got targeted by those campus weirds called F4! I thought he was done for at the time, and we were next.”

“Right, Xu Wei?” Tao Xi reached out and tugged at Xu Wei, who was staying silent beside him.

Xu Wei nodded. His expression showed a relatively big emotional reaction this time. “I really thought I was dead back then.”

“And then!” Tao Xi raised his voice to emphasize the highlight: “I always thought it was some transfer student weird bigshot, but then a divine weapon descended from the heavens!”

“Su Ximu, Boss Su—with his strength, the Confidentiality Bureau should know about him, right?”

Wang Xingxing nodded at him. Of course he knew; how could he not?

Otherwise, what had they just been discussing?

Seeing Wang Xingxing’s reaction and those of some others, Tao Xi, Xu Wei, and the other player who had been sent out were satisfied.

See? They knew it—Boss Su wasn’t just impressive in front of newbies like them!

Someone who could nearly clear an entire dungeon had to be a famous figure in the real world!

Tao Xi felt relieved inside and spoke even faster next: “What happened after that, you leaders can probably guess. With this bigshot’s strength, carrying a bunch of noobs like us was a piece of cake, right?”

“He moved with the speed of lightning and swiftly saved Xu Wei. Didn’t Xu Wei have that F4 weird’s Death Invitation stuck on him? Boss Su just—bam!—slapped a blanked-out version of the invitation on Xu Wei’s back. That became his protective talisman for the next few days!”

“After that, the entire school’s situation was like cutting vegetables. Boss Su released this~ massive~ Clock Tower and quickly took control of the scene. I don’t know the details, though, because those days I was mostly just keeping Ma Bin company in bed and didn’t go out much.”

“Then, out of nowhere, the bigshot found me and asked if I wanted to leave the dungeon early. Of course I said yes!”

“So!” Here, Tao Xi voiced Xu Wei’s inner thoughts: “We didn’t come back because of any gifts. The bigshot sent us back.”

Tao Xi still believed to this day that it was because he usually did good deeds that he got so lucky in the dungeon.

Tao Xi had thought that saying this might lead to a bit of debate with the leaders present.

Unexpectedly, that Wang-surnamed leader looked thoughtful upon hearing it, then suddenly realized something. His expression even mixed in a bit of embarrassment.

Wang Xingxing nodded vigorously. “You’re right! I got the wrong idea.”

Back then, when Supervisor Su sent out their group of over a hundred people, he hadn’t asked for any gifts either.

Today was clearly just a coincidence! He was sending gifts, and Supervisor Su was sending people—they just happened to cross paths.

Seeing Wang Xingxing admit his mistake so readily, Tao Xi, Xu Wei, and the other player Xu Linyi all nodded inwardly. They felt this guy was very approachable, with outstanding character.

After the meeting, Zhao Yanhan confirmed once again that 【Star Sequence】 currently harbored no malice toward the player group—in fact, it could even be called goodwill.

Or rather, 【Star Sequence】 had his own complete set of morals. In his view of good and evil, players forced into dungeons were probably innocent.

Thus, he was willing to extend goodwill to players.

At the end of the meeting, Zhao Yanhan extended an invitation to these three new players.

Normally, new players like this didn’t meet the Confidentiality Bureau’s recruitment criteria unless they had exceptional potential.

But there were always exceptions.

Recruiting these players who had interacted with 【Star Sequence】 would make future communication plans with him smoother.

Xu Wei and the other two didn’t think that deeply. The moment they heard there was an official position, they instinctively agreed.

They didn’t regret it after nodding either.

Entering dungeons wasn’t a one-time thing. Having a big backer was always better than soloing them later.

Wang Xingxing was very friendly and now found Xu Wei and the others quite likable. Once the meeting ended, he immediately took the initiative to offer to walk them through the procedures.

As the four walked down the long corridor out of the conference room, Wang Xingxing said, “Don’t worry about your families. After you went missing, the Bureau made arrangements. They still don’t know you’re gone. When you get home later, if your parents notice something off and ask, you don’t have to hide too much. It’s fine to tell them about the dungeon stuff.”

“After this, the Central Bureau knows they probably can’t keep the Weird World secret much longer. The internet seals on information have loosened a lot. It’ll probably go public in a bit.”

Wang Xingxing was friendly, and Xu Wei was no slouch either.

Seeing how approachable Wang Xingxing was and that he wasn’t much older, Xu Wei immediately started chatting with him. “So, Leader, after we join the Confidentiality Bureau, do we need to take on extra missions? Us, heh, to be honest, our strength is kinda…”

“Don’t call me Leader. We’re all colleagues now. I’m just the one who joined the Confidentiality Bureau earlier. Just call me by name. Before your strength is up to par, the Bureau definitely won’t assign you any missions unless absolutely necessary—that’d just be sending you to die.”

If it was a necessary situation, they wouldn’t need the Bureau to force them anyway. Everyone would probably suffer if they didn’t do it.

“Hey, Xing-ge, I could tell right away you’re super chill.” Tao Xi followed the lead smoothly.

The group walked together for a while. Half an hour later, when they emerged from logistics together, they were already at the point of throwing arms around each other’s shoulders.

Xu Wei and the others were eager to get home, so Wang Xingxing didn’t keep them. He just waved. “Tomorrow, dinner’s on me—welcome to the newbies.”

Xu Wei, Tao Xi, and Xu Linyi nodded and waved back. They set a time for dinner tomorrow night.

Then, the three headed shoulder-to-shoulder toward the exit gate in the opposite direction from Wang Xingxing.

As they walked, Tao Xi said, “No idea when the bigshot will get out of the dungeon. I still wanna treat him to a meal and properly thank him.”

It was a lifesaving grace that spared them from being tortured to death. Kowtowing wouldn’t even be too much.

Xu Linyi added, “Yeah, we gotta show our proper gratitude.”

With that, they both looked at Xu Wei.

Xu Wei scratched his head. “I’ll ask around later. We were just ordinary classmates before. If anyone’s close, it’s Wu Yang.”

He wasn’t saying this to distance himself now that they were out of the dungeon. Quite the opposite—he was thinking further ahead.

He had realized that the player circle was different from the normal world. With Su Ximu’s strength, tons of people in the player circle would want to buddy up with him.

If they just rushed up carelessly now under the guise of repaying a favor, what could they even offer?

Better to grind lowkey first and prove themselves with actions later.

“Wu Yang?” Tao Xi asked subconsciously about the unfamiliar name. “He’s a player too?”

Xu Wei shook his head, about to say he didn’t know, when he didn’t notice the person behind him—with hands in his pockets—slowly perking up his ears, then widening his eyes.

Suddenly, Xu Wei was yanked hard and spun 180 degrees on the spot.

He nearly came face-to-face, mouth-to-mouth, with Wang Xingxing, whose eyes were bulging in shock.

Xu Wei’s eyes widened too, and he quickly backed away. But he got grabbed again.

It made him want to shout that he didn’t like guys.

Wang Xingxing’s voice nearly cracked as he yelled, “You just said classmate?!”

“And Wu Yang?!”

Was it that Wu Yang whose missing roommate was named Su Ximu?

The three newbies felt a bit uneasy at the veteran newbie’s reaction.

“W-What’s up?” Tao Xi swallowed. “Is the name Wu Yang illegal or something?”

Wang Xingxing took a deep breath, exhaled, inhaled deeply again, then exhaled.

Finally, he cleared some of the thoughts racing through his head.

He said, “It’s not illegal. But you guys probably can’t go home now. We need another meeting.”

With that, Wang Xingxing grabbed Xu Wei with one hand and bolted toward the cafeteria.

Xu Wei nearly couldn’t keep up as he was dragged behind.

Once inside the cafeteria, Wang Xingxing dashed to Zhao Yanhan, snatched up his Bureau Chief’s tray.

Zhao Yanhan, who got splattered with soup: …

“Wang Xingxing, you better have a good explanation for me.”

“Bureau Chief, stop eating! Meeting time!!”

“My idol—my idol might really not be a weird!”

Zhao Yanhan: …

He wiped his face.

“Meeting!”