The news about the “Central Institute for Supernatural Abilities” had just been thrown out.
Therefore, all aspects like character backgrounds, school settings, and historical development must be perfected before the officials could catch on.
Otherwise, if even a tiny bit was exposed, all would be lost.
Players who had been passionately acting against the investigators were now lying on their beds like salted fish.
“The workload is massive…” Chu Zaizhou gasped for air, “The official response is too quick, they’re really pushing me to work overtime.”
The sorrows of the working class!
Chu Zaizhou was still unaware of the official countermeasures as he was busy trying to unlock his account.
Ka Xiu came out of the bathroom and also sprawled next to his physical body.
Double cat sigh.jpg
System: “Your acting was very good.”
Chu Zaizhou weakly responded, “Which socialite has bad acting skills?”
He had climbed to this position at a young age, relying on more than just educational credentials.
Indeed, the moment Chu Zaizhou understood Qing Qing and her companion’s intentions, he started scheming.
He created a card on the spot with a magic item and stuffed it into a corner.
Whether he was fetching slippers or spontaneously mentioning the gaming pod, he was constantly hinting to the investigators.
First, to disguise character details to lower their guard.
Second, to clear his physical self from any supernatural incidents cleanly.
Third, to promote the Central Institute for Supernatural Abilities, using various means to increase exposure.
Just one alternative character claiming there was an organization behind him wouldn’t be as effective as having multiple.
Although Chu Zaizhou currently had only one alternative character, that didn’t stop him from continuing the act.
Thanks to the inspiration from the Empty Fort Strategy.
There was also an additional benefit: using the alternative character’s hints to draw official attention to his physical self, and thereby protect his defenseless body—while also saving money by switching gaming pods, cough!
Killing several birds with one stone.
Chu Zaizhou pinched Ka Xiu’s firm muscles beside him and wept for his own scrawny physique.
He was merely a delicate flower.
“I hope they confirm their stance on me soon… but no matter what, this exposure is still too little.”
Chu Zaizhou couldn’t help but frown, “Can’t we expose this to the public?”
System: “You may use magic items to actively expose.”
Chu Zaizhou dismissed the idea, “That would only cause chaos—now is too early.”
The officials clearly had a meticulous approach to maintaining social stability amid frequent supernatural events.
Chu Zaizhou decided to wait until the official stance was disclosed before planning his next move.
For the following half-month, Chu Zaizhou went to work as usual, although he was considering resigning, but he planned to at least collect this month’s salary.
However, he was no longer the same as before.
The tasks that used to keep him busy alone were now sped up significantly with Ka Xiu’s presence.
He even had time to leisurely write his plans after work.
His acting points were slowly increasing, having risen by a few hundred.
Apparently, the Central Institute for Supernatural Abilities, having only resolved a few minor supernatural incidents without causing much trouble, hadn’t attracted much attention yet.
Chu Zaizhou was not in a hurry. He continued to work using his physical self and Ka Xiu, scouring for supernatural occurrences.
He specifically looked for supernatural events in remote areas, leaving those in populated areas to the officials.
With each occurrence, his points also increased.
Chu Zaizhou secretly observed a group of investigators in navy blue uniforms, admiring their skilled and clean methods, worth learning from.
Hmm… he could consider their handling methods for future application to the institute.
He had never managed an institute before, and these days he was frantically studying, not to mention that in the future, all actions within all his alternative characters would be carried out by him alone.
Just thinking about it was exhausting.
Exhausted, the working-class Chu Zaizhou went to bed early, preparing to go to the company the next day to pack up and resign.
However, when Chu Zaizhou woke up the next day, he almost fell out of bed.
“Damn!” He looked at his acting points, which had unexpectedly soared to just over fifty thousand, and pinched his own face hard.
“Am I still dreaming?” Chu Zaizhou asked in confusion, “System, did you cheat for me?”
System: “Thank you for the compliment, player, but I do not have such a feature.”
It was already a bit late to go to work. With full curiosity, Chu Zaizhou hurriedly packed and planned to think over the reasons at the company.
Upon entering the company, the usually not-so-quiet office was unusually noisy today.
As soon as Chu Zaizhou entered, a familiar colleague grabbed his arm, “Come on, Brother Chu is here, let him pick a side!”
“What happened? Is there a bug in the game?” Chu Zaizhou was puzzled.
The colleague pushed a tablet in front of him and opened a video.
Chu Zaizhou couldn’t help but his pupils shrink.
The video content was of the day Ka Xiu appeared in Jianren District!
In the video, a young man in black suddenly appeared, his deep gaze fixed on a warehouse not far away…
As the worn warehouse door opened, sticky sewage flowed out, and the young man talked with two investigators in navy blue uniforms at the doorway.
Suddenly, the young man with eerie green eyes swiftly turned his head, and a scalpel flew out of his hand like lightning, drawing a bright line in the air!
The video had no background music and was quite blurry, but in a modern era where even chopping bricks with bare hands was considered a feat, it had reached a breaking point!
The end was a man’s monologue. He called himself Liu Wei, whose father, Liu Ziping, had died mysteriously in a warehouse in Jianren District a few days ago.
Liu Wei felt there was something fishy about it, especially since the police hadn’t provided a clear answer.
He took turns with his grandfather watching the junkyard, trying to find evidence of police inaction.
That day his grandfather was chased away, and he later retrieved the camera, only to discover it had captured this scene.
Chu Zaizhou checked the video’s publication date, June 30th, and realized it was from last night.
The video clearly showed the location, and if any idle netizens decided to investigate or look for Liu Wei…
It wasn’t surprising that it blew up this morning.
Was the official really not quick to delete it?
Chu Zaizhou was puzzled.
He casually asked, “What’s this? New game effects?”
As soon as the words fell, his colleague immediately showed a heartbroken, disbelieving expression.
Employees at a major gaming company were usually at the forefront of online surfing, with wilder and more fantastical ideas.
“Brother Chu, this clearly isn’t an effect! Do you think they could rig wires at a junkyard? Moreover, the person appeared out of thin air, not dropped from the sky!”
“And that flying knife, it left an afterimage!!”
“Not to mention those in navy blue uniforms, they even had guns at their waists!”
Guns! In their country, there was no legal right to carry firearms! It must be something out of the legendary dragon or phoenix groups!
For most people, these were just entertaining thoughts that passed by, but those in the gaming industry, who didn’t fantasize about actually possessing the skills of game characters?
“But it can’t really be supernatural abilities, right?” a female colleague drawled.
“What if?”
“Yeah, espers, huh… their salaries must be higher than ours, right?” The first thought of corporate slaves always brought tears to one’s eyes.
“I don’t know if it’s really about fighting monsters, but it seems pretty dangerous.”
“Xiaoya, if you awaken a special ability, what would you want?”
“Can I have that handsome green-eyed guy?! Does he really not look like he ran out of a 2D model?”
“Judging by his combat prowess, this guy seems even more badass than those in blue uniforms, but who knows what his story is…”
They were constantly exposed to games filled with fantastical elements—who didn’t fantasize about truly possessing a game character’s abilities!
Chu Zaizhou watched his excited colleagues and silently swallowed the truth.
Ka Xiu really did come out of the 2D world.
The game had really become a reality.
Espers were a fact.
Just the salary part, he didn’t know.
Forget it, he felt that revealing even a bit would get him mobbed by his colleagues.
Seeing him remain silent, a colleague patted Chu Zaizhou’s shoulder:
“Brother Chu, don’t be sad. Whether this is real or fake, it really doesn’t have much to do with us ordinary people.”
“I think if you really want to awaken a special ability, you’d at least have to undergo decades of physical training, or maybe walk the line between life and death, right?”
No… he got his playing a game while lying down.
Chu Zaizhou coughed lightly, feeling that if he thought about it any longer, it would really hurt his conscience.
“Alright, everyone calm down. The manager will be here soon.” He went to his desk to start packing his things.
A colleague asked, “Brother Chu, what are you doing?”
Chu Zaizhou: “Resigning.”
The colleague was shocked, “You’re not seriously resigning just for a slim chance of awakening a special ability, are you?”
Really just a bunch of silly, happy fools, Chu Zaizhou laughed to death, sarcastically chiming in, “A man doesn’t chase dreams in vain in his youth!”
He was indeed going to save the world!
Now that the officials hadn’t deleted the video, Chu Zaizhou really wanted to know what had happened.
It was time for Ka Xiu to take action.
But compared to directly seeking the officials under the guise of the Central Institute for Supernatural Abilities, it seemed easier to gain trust by taking a more roundabout approach.
July 1st, afternoon, Wenhai District, Maolin Street.
Ka Xiu turned into a hidden alley.
The walls next to him were covered in moss and unidentifiable stains, as well as overlapping flyers advertising wealthy women seeking children.
The young man scanned those blurry papers, his gaze serious and observant.
Then, he lifted his leg to step over the uneven ground covered in puddles and turned into a building deeper in the alley.
—Jiajia Hotel.
Pushing open the door, he saw the landlady cracking seeds and watching dramas behind the dimly lit bar.
Her makeup was thick, her eyes drawn out long and narrow at the corners, her lips bright red, with melon seed shells precisely tossed into the ashtray between spits.
Seeing a guest, she lazily greeted him and then, upon closer inspection, showed a warm smile.
“Hey, handsome, are you staying the night? We have plenty of rooms and they’re cheap.”
“Staying.” Ka Xiu, visiting such a place for the first time, cautiously kept a distance from the bar, “How much?”
The landlady’s eyes flickered: “A hundred and fifty for a double room per day.”
Ka Xiu nodded: “Then just one day.”
The landlady stretched out her hand: “Your ID for the registration.”
“ID card…”
The black-haired young man paused, not moving.
The landlady’s smile deepened meaningfully, she coughed lightly: “Didn’t bring it, huh? If you didn’t bring it, it’s double the price.”
She stood up, leaned in close, and lowered her voice to ask, “Any special requests? Preferences? I can arrange that for you.”
Ka Xiu furrowed his brow, not catching her drift.
He took a half step back, his expression cold: “No.”
“Tsk.” The landlady pouted, pulled out someone else’s ID from the side, and “beeped” it on the machine.
“Then just pay up.”
After paying three hundred yuan, he took the room card upstairs. Ka Xiu circled the room twice to ensure there was no danger, then closed his eyes and leaned against the bed to rest.
At seven o’clock, on the first floor of the Jiajia Hotel.
A team of uniformed police pushed the door open and presented their credentials in a business-like manner to the stiff-faced landlady.
“We are from the Wenhai District Public Security Team Three, someone reported illegal prostitution here, now please show your documents and today’s guest list.”
The landlady: “Ah, this…”
She was about to act when a policeman proficiently blocked her, sighing, “Don’t press any buttons, don’t turn on your phone, don’t make calls, we’re more familiar with the ways of signaling, OK?”
The landlady wanted to cry: “But brother, we really had no business today!”
……
Faint, chaotic footsteps could be heard outside.
In the dark room, Ka Xiu opened his eyes.
The next moment, the room burst open, a squad charged in.
“Freeze!” “Don’t move!”
The lights came on, and the policemen holding batons took a closer look.
They saw a young man in a trench coat holding a disconnected electric kettle, standing at the entrance, looking at them.
His expression was calm, but still slightly confused.
“Hello.” He paused, then said earnestly, “I paid.”
“……”
“This doesn’t seem like a brothel?” one of the policemen frowned and whispered to another, “Have the other rooms been checked to confirm no one else is here?”
“Just this one shows it’s rented, really no business.” Another responded, checking his phone.
“Wait—”
That policeman’s gaze sharpened as he looked at the ID card photo, which was ugly and distorted, then back at the young man before him—whose features were handsome and whose green eyes were particularly deep.
“Zhang Ah cha?” He asked clearly, “Can you show me your ID card?”
Ka Xiu: “……”
