Chapter 20: The Weird Tales Confidentiality Bureau’s Attention, Third Brother…

Blue 242 spoke, and only then did Su Jianglou look toward the person opposite him.

“Who’s this?”

Su Ximu introduced him earnestly. “Third Brother, this is Blue 242, my team leader who’s been looking after me since the day I arrived. We’re friends now.”

Blue 242 extended his hand indifferently. “Hello, Mr. Su.”

“Friends…” Su Jianglou narrowed his eyes enigmatically. In the end, though, he said nothing and did nothing. He simply shook the man’s hand casually.

Then, with something between a sigh and not, he remarked, “Xiao Mu’s only been here a few days, and he’s already made good friends.”

Su Ximu, who sensed none of the undercurrents between the two, wasn’t sure how to respond. He gave a shy smile.

Before leaving, Su Jianglou handed over the bag of snacks he was carrying and took the opportunity to observe the young man in front of him.

Perhaps exercise really was good for the body. After a few days of summer work, Xiao Mu looked much healthier than when he had first arrived.

Su Jianglou didn’t mind helping a human teenager in the tail end of puberty bulk up. But for now, he still found the task too trivial and bothersome.

Su Ximu took the snacks and thanked “Third Brother.” He also asked, “Third Brother, if Big Brother’s here too, should I go say hi to him?”

The question was mostly politeness.

Fortunately, “Third Brother” didn’t suggest going. He just waved a hand over his shoulder and said, “He’s busy. No need to see him for the time being.”

With that, he strode away.

Once outside the cafeteria, Su Jianglou frowned. He felt an inexplicable chill inside.

He circled the cafeteria once more. Sure enough, in a corner by the outer wall, he dragged out a weird entity wearing a melon hat and a long robe, cowering timidly.

It was probably one that had escaped from the Folk Custom Garden. Su Jianglou grabbed the Melon Hat Old Man by the scruff. “Not bad strength. You even managed to affect me just now.”

The weird entity, which had done nothing but hide obediently: What the hell?

Real World, C City, Weird Tales Confidentiality Bureau

After emerging from the dungeon and resting briefly, Rao Fei came to the Bureau to report the latest dungeon situation to the Bureau Chief.

“Bureau Chief, the latest intel: the Su Consortium has expanded again. This time, the known dungeon that’s been absorbed is the Deeply Secluded Courtyard one I just went through. The rest are unknown for now.”

Zhao Yanhan, seated at his desk, nodded and noted it down.

“Also, among the other four players who entered the dungeon with me, there’s a new player named Xu Mu who shows real potential. I recommend recruiting him to the reserve team.”

Zhao Yanhan nodded again. “Good. The Bureau’s already looking into him.”

At this point, Rao Fei couldn’t help voicing his concern. “Bureau Chief, have you noticed? Lately, the proportion of new players in low-level dungeons is alarmingly high.”

“By this rate, there must already be a significant number of new players whose info we don’t have. They’re scattered in society—unstable elements. Normal people won’t be on guard against them. If this goes on, things will go wrong, Bureau Chief.”

The “unstable elements” Rao Fei mentioned weren’t out of prejudice against those hidden new players. It was an unavoidable reality: weird dungeons had a huge mental impact on normal people.

A single dungeon run could turn a perfectly sane person into a mental patient.

It was well known that mental patients sometimes hurt people without control.

If they were at the Confidentiality Bureau, the Bureau at least had ways to stabilize their minds—better than nothing. But some people didn’t fully trust the authorities and stayed hidden.

After airing his worries, Rao Fei probed the question he’d been mulling over for a long time. “When exactly does the Bureau plan to officially announce the existence of weird tales dungeons to the public?”

They couldn’t wait until the weird world suddenly expanded massively one day, leaving ordinary people in the Real World totally unprepared, just like they had once been.

Zhao Yanhan didn’t answer directly. “The Detection Team’s still calculating probabilities. Once the assessment’s done, we’ll announce if needed.”

On the surface, the number of weird dungeon players seemed large, but compared to a whole nation, it was still a drop in the ocean.

For now, many in the Bureau favored maintaining the status quo for stability.

Rao Fei sighed, rubbed his face, and dropped the topic. He added, “One more thing. There’s a high-level weird hopping dungeons lately. I’ll post its features on the forum later. Bureau Chief, remember to warn those hotheads in the Bureau—the ones always acting like big shots. If they run into it in a dungeon someday, don’t provoke it unless necessary.”

Zhao Yanhan took Rao Fei’s dungeon intel seriously. “Give me the details.”

“It’s like a bear cub dragging its parents around. I’ve seen him twice, and each time the weird with him was different. But I could tell both times it was extremely vicious—more so each time. This time, he somehow ended up in the Deeply Secluded Courtyard dungeon. The weird with him nearly ripped out that dungeon horror Wang Family Courtyard’s Lord Wang’s heart, but he soothed it like a child.”

“Any clues on this weird’s rules?”

Rao Fei shook his head. “Not yet. Normally, it seems pretty docile—no aggression, can communicate, just like an ordinary student. The only anomaly was when it smelled blood, but the accompanying weird calmed it down.”

“I don’t know what happens if it can’t be calmed.”

He might not have made it back if he knew.

After that, Rao Fei got a bit smug and volunteered himself. “How about next dungeon, I go with Bureau Chief Lin? I still have this weird’s contact from the Tourist Garden dungeon. If things get desperate for me and Bureau Chief Lin next time, I could try contacting between dungeons—maybe summon the weird over.”

Zhao Yanhan grew serious and cracked a cold joke. “And let that weird slaughter every player and dungeon horror in there?”

Rao Fei shrugged. “Well, at least I’d take a dungeon BOSS with me before dying.”

Zhao Yanhan didn’t banter. Seeing no more reports, he waved him off. “If you really want to tag along, call Wang Xingxing later.”

Rao Fei stood. “Wang Xingxing’s with Bureau Chief Lin? What are they up to?”

Zhao Yanhan: “Practicing singing, rap, songwriting, personal branding, and dance.”

It was intel from Writer Weird’s side. The Strange Talk World had opened a super large-scale dungeon. By entry timing, Lin Lan had a chance of entering it.

Dungeon temporarily named: 【Weird 101】

Time flowed differently between the Weird World and the Real World.

When Su Ximu arrived, he was still in school. But the “original host” of this world was on summer break.

He couldn’t figure out if time in this world ran faster or slower than his original one.

He could only count the days in his head: one day, two days, three days…

In the blink of an eye, many days had passed since his arrival. He’d been working at the Tourist Garden for nearly a week.

The Tourist Garden’s reforms progressed slowly. The day after the Folk Custom Garden dungeon fell, the Park Chief’s Office issued appointments.

An entry-level employee numbered Gray 6382 became the envy of all staff.

Stats showed his contribution in the Ma Family Courtyard topped the charts, propelling him to manage an entire mansion.

This had little to do with Su Ximu, who had spectated the whole thing. His contribution in the Wang Family Courtyard existed but wasn’t high.

The highest contributor there was Green 132—the weird who had given Su Ximu half a mushroom.

After the appointment, its mental state visibly stabilized. It even moved its humus soil bed overnight to Lord Wang’s room in the Wang Family Courtyard.

Another dawn arrived. Su Ximu opened his eyes and sat up in the dorm bed.

His first thought upon waking: Today was cake day.

He had no expensive tastes growing up, save one habit: on certain specific days each year, he craved cake.

Big cake or a tiny palm-sized one—it didn’t matter. He just wanted it.

Over the years, the habit was more reliable than a calendar.

Today was no different.

But as he sat on the bed lost in thought, the teen hit a snag.

Since arriving in this world, he’d only been to Wealth Avenue with the Su Family Villa and the Tourist Garden for work. Nowhere else.

He recalled dessert shop locations from memory, but they were all far away.

And he had no money for transport…

Wait. Yes, he did. Big Brother had given him pocket money, and Third Brother too.

Problem solved. Su Ximu jumped up, rubbed his eyes, and went to his suitcase. He squatted down and pulled a crisp hundred-yuan bill from the hidden compartment.

After round-trip fare, the rest would cover a cake.

No longer stumped, the teen pursed his lips, revealing dimples on his cheeks, and tucked the hundred yuan carefully into the pocket of his outgoing clothes.

But before he could use his money for cake after work, during lunch, Team Leader Blue 242 walked into the cafeteria with an exquisitely packaged cake and invited him to share it.

Su Ximu found it curious. Did Team Leader Blue 242 also crave cake today by coincidence?

Or was it Blue 242’s birthday?

Blue 242 opened the box and, hearing the teen’s confusion, shook his head. “It’s not my birthday. It’s my third brother’s.”

Su Ximu blinked, not catching on.

Blue 242’s brother had a birthday, so he and Team Leader Blue 242 were eating cake?

Where was Blue 242’s brother?

“He doesn’t like cake, so I brought it over.” Blue 242 explained as he stuck several Fairy Tale Candles into the cake.

Then he pulled out his phone and hung up a persistently ringing call.

“Come on, let’s blow out the candles for him together. Consider it celebrating his birthday.”