When Lu Qingjia woke up the next day, he felt incredibly relaxed and refreshed.
Although he had always maintained a good routine, stayed healthy, and generally slept well, waking up feeling this comfortable was a first for him.
However, when he turned around, he saw a face buried in his neck and the sight of an extra person in his bed.
Lu Qingjia quickly figured out what had happened. The fool must have realized he had been tricked and came to his room in the middle of the night to settle the score, but seeing him asleep, it naturally ended up like this.
Zhong Liyu also sensed the moment Lu Qingjia woke up. His heart skipped a beat, and he felt a little guilty.
Despite trying to convince himself that the other party was the one at fault, after experiencing the various ways Lu Qingjia had dealt with him, he didn’t dare act arrogantly during the times when his anger wasn’t fueling his courage.
Pretending to wake up naturally, he opened his eyes to see Lu Qingjia staring at him, expressionless.
Zhong Liyu’s heart clenched: “Jia—Jiajia.”
“Hmm?” For some reason, there was a hint of killing intent in the other’s response.
Zhong Liyu immediately backed down, instantly transforming into a large black cat: “I just noticed you weren’t sleeping very steadily with your hands empty.”
Lu Qingjia: “…”
Early in the morning, he didn’t want to bother with the fool.
But honestly, the cat’s fur was really comfortable to touch, especially when it was enlarged, leaning against it felt like sinking into a cloud.
Lu Qingjia found himself deeply immersed and unexpectedly started feeling sleepy again.
Seeing that acting cute had saved him from certain death, Zhong Liyu seemed to have grasped a new ultimate skill.
After taking a morning nap, Lu Qingjia naturally woke up late. Fortunately, his employees were competent, and the workflow was already well-established, so his absence wasn’t a big issue.
However, as he was tidying up and leaving, he happened to run into the employees coming out of the dining hall after breakfast. Seeing Lu Qingjia and Zhong Liyu emerging from the same room one after the other, both sides paused for a moment, falling into a brief silence.
Then Xiao Wei and the others tried their best to hide their excitement, pretending nothing was wrong: “Good morning, boss. Good morning, Brother Zhong.”
Seeing them like this, Lu Qingjia couldn’t help but feel helpless: “Good morning.”
As soon as he turned around, he heard them whispering, thinking their voices were low: “He really managed to climb into bed.”
“That fox spirit has some serious skills.”
“Although I initially supported Brother Zhong, now I feel sorry for Mr. Ouyang. He just went on a business trip, and this happened.”
“We shouldn’t have sympathized with him in the first place.”
“Ugh—” Zhong Liyu’s teeth ached: “Can’t they stick to one script? Why does it sound different from what they said yesterday?”
“Yesterday, they said I was the neglected main wife. So whoever gains the upper hand becomes the victim, huh?”
Lu Qingjia shrugged: “It depends on the novel they read the night before.”
“They all read the same book in one dorm?”
“Cut them some slack. In a dorm, it’s easy for one person’s hobbies to influence the whole group. They weren’t like this before. It’s all Xiao Wei’s fault—”
Lu Qingjia sighed at this point.
The two chatted while having breakfast. Today’s chicken noodle soup was exceptionally delicious.
Lu Qingjia drank two bowls of soup, feeling thoroughly refreshed. He felt like he had absorbed a lot of spiritual energy, and his abilities were gradually strengthening. His mood remained excellent.
Zhong Liyu asked: “Jiajia, what are your plans for the next instance?”
Lu Qingjia: “I’ll wait for a while. I’ve gained too many new things recently, and I need time to adapt.”
“Having too many diverse abilities isn’t always a good thing. Without rich combat experience, strong judgment, and quick switching, it can actually be detrimental in direct combat.”
It’s like reloading a gun. If you’re not fast enough, the enemy can take your life in that brief moment.
The same goes for switching abilities. When you realize one ability isn’t effective and need to switch to another, but your brain isn’t familiar with controlling your abilities, it can be fatal in critical moments.
The God Envoy fell victim to this.
As a second-generation power holder, the God Envoy surely had more treasures than just his bloodline and the bracelet confiscated by Lu Qingjia. But in that high-paced battle, he only managed to use those two, indicating that despite having a treasure trove, he lacked practice. If he had utilized even half of his treasures, he could have dominated the Intermediate Level Game.
Thinking of this, Lu Qingjia took out the bracelet and handed it to Zhong Liyu: “Can you remove the ownership mark on this?”
“Of course, I can.” Zhong Liyu was delighted and quickly took the bracelet: “To be honest, this bracelet isn’t a bound item.”
“Although its effects are powerful, whoever grabs it owns it. That’s one of the risks of such items.”
“The Trickster must have known his nephew was a fool, so even at the cost of reducing the bracelet’s power, he forced an ownership mark.”
“But in essence, it’s just a mark he left as an administrator, nothing sophisticated. As long as I—”
“Wait!” Lu Qingjia interrupted: “I overlooked this point.”
“First, check if the mark belongs to the Trickster we met or someone else.”
Zhong Liyu understood the implication. If the mark wasn’t made by the Trickster they met, it might belong to the real Trickster.
That would mean the God Envoy is the real Trickster’s nephew, and through that fool, they could uncover a lot of information.
But that idiot was so clueless that when Lu Qingjia found out the Trickster wasn’t who he appeared to be, he guessed the other wouldn’t even reveal his true identity. So the probability of the God Envoy being the real Trickster’s nephew wasn’t high; he might just be related to the impostor.
However, this bracelet could still be used to test the waters. Although there are other possibilities, what if?
Zhong Liyu nodded and tested the mark with the God Envoy, then shook his head at Lu Qingjia: “It’s the one we met.”
Lu Qingjia wasn’t too disappointed: “Of course, someone like him wouldn’t leave such a loophole.”
Then Zhong Liyu immediately erased the mark, and the bracelet became ownerless. Lu Qingjia put it on and eagerly activated the ability represented by the button.
A blue light flashed, and Lu Qingjia snapped a pair of chopsticks in half. But after holding them for a moment, the chopsticks restored themselves.
A moment later, mold spots and signs of aging appeared on the chopsticks, which then turned into a fragile-looking stick that crumbled into dust at Lu Qingjia’s touch.
But the pile of dust on the table quickly gathered and reformed, gradually solidifying and returning to its original shape.
Zhong Liyu raised an eyebrow: “That’s a strong ability.”
“Limited to manipulating non-living things?”
Lu Qingjia nodded and directed the ability at the remaining half bowl of chicken soup.
The soup quickly turned sour and moldy. Worried the smell might attract others, Lu Qingjia quickly restored it.
“The part I had already drunk didn’t change. If I were to rewind time, it should return to a full bowl. It seems parts involving living beings are unaffected.”
“But even so, it’s still an incredibly powerful ability.”
No wonder the Trickster went to such lengths to obtain it.
Imagine being able to manipulate the time of objects, causing the opponent’s weapons or items to decay and become useless.
This made Lu Qingjia realize that his old uncle, whom he often worried about, was actually much stronger than he thought. For some reason, though, he hadn’t rushed to enter the Advanced Zone.
From what Lu Qingjia had gathered, his old uncle’s level, skills, and abilities were far superior to those of players who had the qualifications to enter the Advanced Zone in the previous classroom instance.
This made Lu Qingjia even more unwilling to accept it. If his old uncle had already chosen to become an Advanced Player, given the protection and low mortality rate in the Advanced Zone, he wouldn’t have—
Zhong Liyu seemed to understand what he was thinking and patted his shoulder: “Don’t dwell on it. He’ll come back.”
Lu Qingjia forced a smile, shook off the useless negative emotions, and began inventorying his spoils from the last instance.
First, the items he purchased in the Infinite Space didn’t need mentioning—mostly useful ranged weapons and various high-tech items. Lu Qingjia didn’t buy many bloodlines since the God Envoy’s bloodline was already top-tier and incompatible with most bloodlines on sale, making them useless.
As for the items the Trickster compensated him with, Lu Qingjia didn’t plan to use any of them. They were still gathering dust with Zhong Liyu.
It wasn’t that he couldn’t bear to throw them away, but he thought of keeping them to see what tricks the Trickster had up his sleeve.
Now that he couldn’t figure it out, perhaps he would understand when he met the real Trickster? Lu Qingjia was still curious about this.
Then there were the rewards from completing the instance.
First, Lu Qingjia’s instance completion rate was very high, and this time he received an SS rating. The points he earned, combined with those he won from the association’s betting pool, meant that even after his big purchases, Lu Qingjia’s points were now in the millions. To him, it was just a string of numbers.
Such wealth was usually seen in late-stage Advanced Players, so Lu Qingjia had achieved point freedom a step earlier.
Next were the abilities he gained from the game.
Originally, the Infinite Game didn’t have many instances where abilities could be obtained. This battle royale was extremely difficult, so the rewards were correspondingly richer.
Unfortunately for the game, it ran into Lu Qingjia, who not only harvested abilities but also made big purchases. By the time the game realized what had happened, it probably felt like it had lost out.
He gained three abilities: Bullethead’s speed, the Bubble Envoy’s defensive bubbles, and the Frost Envoy’s ability.
The first two were due to the instance characters’ goodwill toward Lu Qingjia, while the third was because the ability itself was compatible with him.
Lu Qingjia already had ice-related abilities, so it made sense for him to gain this one.
All three abilities were particularly useful. The ice ability, combined with Lu Qingjia’s existing powers, instantly ranked among his top three offensive abilities.
Bullethead’s speed was even more of a pleasant surprise. Speed and strength are two abilities that players constantly strive to maximize.
Having far superior speed, coupled with just the right amount of attack power, could directly elevate Lu Qingjia’s combat level if the opponent didn’t have instant, all-around defensive or offensive skills.
As for the defensive bubbles obtained from the Bubble Envoy, based on their strength at the time and Lu Qingjia’s ample spiritual energy input, they should be able to handle most dangers in the Intermediate Level Game.
Even Zhong Liyu couldn’t help but comment: “If it’s just about clearing the game, with your current strength, you’re already ready to enter the Advanced Zone.”
For other players, climbing too fast might lead to an unstable foundation. But Zhong Liyu felt that Jiajia was different.
After all, before entering the game, he had already prepared everything, from his natural intelligence to his combat skills and crisis response abilities honed through training.
Back when they were together, he had even made Lu Qingjia take combat lessons. Even without the game, among ordinary people, Lu Qingjia was already a formidable fighter, not just in terms of physical strength but also in actual attack and self-defense techniques.
Whether it was the abilities gained from the game or the physical enhancements bought with points, they all built upon this foundation to create his current strength.
Perhaps because Lu Qingjia was so sharp and always a step ahead, there hadn’t been many opportunities to use his combat skills, leading others to overlook his fighting prowess.
But Zhong Liyu admitted to himself that when he first entered the game, with less than ten instances cleared, he wasn’t as strong as his Jiajia.
Then there was the bracelet obtained from the God Envoy. The bracelet currently had twelve attachments, along with the celestial bloodline Lu Qingjia took from the God Envoy, each representing a useful ability.
Besides the button representing time manipulation, there was also the diamond ring the God Envoy had tried to use on Lu Qingjia, representing a powerful curse.
As for the bloodline taken from the God Envoy, Lu Qingjia had directly purchased items in the Infinite City to convert it back to its original state and modified his physique.
Zhong Liyu smiled: “Actually, based on your performance, this bloodline really suits you.”
What was that God Envoy? A fool who needed psychological manipulation to fully activate his saintly skills.
But with their Jiajia, he could easily deceive everyone around him, establishing a cult in no time.
Lu Qingjia gave him a half-smile, and Zhong Liyu made a zipping motion over his lips, not daring to tease further.
For the next period, Lu Qingjia mainly focused on adapting to his new abilities and integrating the celestial bloodline to align his combat power with his rapidly increasing physical strength.
During this time, something good happened—the animation he invested in, with ample funding, was produced quickly.
The trailer was released and immediately sought after by several websites. Even before the main film was completed, Yang Qian, following the producer’s lead, found Lu Qingjia.
She flew across several provinces to reach Lu Qingjia’s farmhouse.
By then, she was already an Intermediate Player, visibly stronger than during their previous instance.
When they met, the game’s masking of players’ appearances and voices disappeared, and their impressions of each other became clear.
Yang Qian was very excited, rushing over to give Lu Qingjia a big hug: “So you really are a farmhouse owner?”
“I was worried the whole way here, thinking I might stumble upon an organ trafficking operation, so I didn’t contact you beforehand, planning to report it if that was the case.”
She had grown even sharper-tongued since their last meeting.
Lu Qingjia laughed: “If I’d known you’d act so quickly, I wouldn’t have invested in an animation. I’d have invested in some stick-figure videos instead.”
Yang Qian: “Don’t say that. The animation’s production quality is excellent. Many people online are looking forward to it, and some experts are already calling it the future of domestic animation.”
Compared to her initial calm and rational demeanor in the instance, Yang Qian was now clearly excited.
She hadn’t been a player for long, and there were no peers around her. She had been risking her life alone in the game, unable to share it even with her closest family.
The pressure she had endured was immense, and since she was a disciplined person, she couldn’t indulge in the usual pleasures to relieve stress like other players.
When she received Lu Qingjia’s hint, her joy was beyond words.
After tracking Lu Qingjia online and confirming he indeed owned a farmhouse in a scenic area, she packed her bags and came to visit.
As Lu Qingjia helped Yang Qian with her luggage into the main hall, they ran into Zhong Liyu coming out after finishing his chores.
Yang Qian was startled, immediately recalling the big shot from the instance who had forced Lu Qingjia to jump into a well.
Seeing him here, she whispered: “Are you free now?”
Before Lu Qingjia could answer, Zhong Liyu chimed in: “Jiajia, I’ve finished cutting the corn stalks. Should we keep them for use or give them away? A few families have already asked me about it this morning.”
Lu Qingjia: “Leave some by the earthen stove; some guests like to play with them. The rest can be taken by those who want them. There’s chilled watermelon in the kitchen for you; go have some.”
“Got it!”
Yang Qian: “…”
Alright, she had been worried for nothing. The big shot had turned into a cheap, live-in son-in-law.
When she found out Lu Qingjia had been an exchange student, Yang Qian showed obvious envy.
After rising to the Intermediate Level, she had cleared two instances, both with excellent performances. She didn’t shy away from admitting that Lu Qingjia’s strategies in the instances had inspired her.
The two exchanged a lot of information, and Yang Qian stayed for a while, only leaving reluctantly when her family started urging her.
Before leaving, she told Lu Qingjia: “By the way, I’ve been so caught up in catching up that I forgot to mention something important.”
“I heard from another player in my last instance that there have been collective disappearances of players recently.”
“Player disappearances?” Lu Qingjia raised an eyebrow: “In reality?”
Yang Qian shook her head: “No, after entering the game.”
“Normally, after entering the game, you either live or die. No matter how long the mission lasts, only two seconds pass in reality. After two seconds, players return, even if they die, they die in reality.”
“But recently, there have been cases where players entered the game and never came back. Grouped players have complained to the game, but the game’s response is that it’s a normal phenomenon.”
“All the missing players are Intermediates, so among Intermediate Players who know about this, there’s some unease. Be careful.”
Lu Qingjia nodded: “I will. You be careful too.”
Yang Qian nodded and bid farewell to Lu Qingjia, boarding the bus to leave.
Zhong Liyu was about to say something, but Lu Qingjia stopped him: “No need. Solving mysteries like this is more fun on your own.”
Zhong Liyu pouted, then licked his finger: “You could use your mouth to stop me next time.”
“Have I been too nice to you lately, making you think you’ve secured a place here?”
Zhong Liyu immediately shut up. After all, practical benefits were more important than verbal teasing.
During this period, Lu Qingjia fully mastered everything he had and once again applied to enter an instance.
Zhong Liyu, under the guise of being a protector, insisted on waiting in his room for his return.
Lu Qingjia: “I’ll only be gone for two seconds.”
“For me, it’s just two seconds, but for you, it’s several days. I’m thinking of you—don’t you find it touching to see the person you miss the moment you come back?”
Lu Qingjia was tempted to call Madam An to see if they could reforge this fool.
But considering it was better to have him in plain sight than sneaking around, he let it be.
After preparing, Lu Qingjia disappeared from Zhong Liyu’s sight.
After the sensation of falling, Lu Qingjia found himself in a hotel.
But something was off with his body. It was clearly morning, and there were no signs of a fight or anyone else in the room.
Yet he wasn’t wearing pajamas but a wrinkled, muddy coat, and his shoes were in a terrible state.
Not only that, but his body also felt extremely fatigued, with his leg muscles aching. The last time he had felt like this was the day after running a marathon in high school.
It felt as if he had run for dozens—no, considering his current physical condition, it must have been hundreds—of kilometers to place such a heavy burden on his body.
As he had mentioned before, the Game wouldn’t make meaningless arrangements for a player’s condition after entering an instance unless that condition itself was a clue.
To be honest, Lu Qingjia was now quite wealthy. With the recovery potions he had purchased from the Infinite Mall or the restorative food Zhong Liyu had given him, even a minor overexertion or muscle strain could be quickly healed. Not to mention, with his Divine Bloodline, he could recover swiftly from serious injuries, let alone from such a trivial situation.
Therefore, the Game’s arrangement must have a deeper meaning. Lu Qingjia activated his Divine Bloodline Ability, and within moments, his body was fully restored.
This indicated that it wasn’t the Game restricting his mobility, which allowed him to rule out several possibilities.
Lu Qingjia checked his entire body again and found a train ticket in his coat pocket with a punched mark and a meal voucher that hadn’t been used.
He immediately looked up the train number online and discovered it was a train from another city that had departed yesterday and was supposed to arrive at his current location.
The journey was supposed to take over six hours, but after an hour, the train encountered a malfunction and couldn’t proceed. The passengers were stranded for several hours before being evacuated in batches.
This was interesting. The situation was clear: he had taken that train to get here yesterday, but the train had failed to reach its destination. Yet, he had arrived, looking quite disheveled. Based on the mud stains on his clothes and shoes, and after checking the terrain and soil conditions along the train route online, he confirmed that he had traveled the remaining distance on foot when the train couldn’t proceed.
So, the question arose: “Why did he have no memory of this?”
Lu Qingjia carefully recalled his memories. Indeed, his last memory was of entering the Game, after a long, tedious interaction with that fool Zhong Ye, and then waking up in his current situation.
There was no sense of time jumping, nor anything that felt out of place.
At least, if it weren’t for his disheveled appearance and the clues left behind, Lu Qingjia wouldn’t have noticed this issue immediately.
And the fact that he could quickly restore his condition further proved that this wasn’t a deliberate arrangement by the Game.
Because if it were just that, there would be no need to manipulate his physical state. As he had said before, the Game wouldn’t do anything unnecessary at the beginning. If something seemed unnecessary, it must have a deeper meaning.
After ruling out other impossibilities, only one possibility remained.
All the traces on his body, including his exhaustion, were deliberately left by himself—all to ensure that he could quickly and accurately understand his current state.
And why would he do this? It must be because he already knew he would forget everything upon waking up.
