Go Run a Dungeon?

"I heard you're planning to take up gardening as a side job."

The voice on the other end of the line sounded tired.

It was already noon. Xia Qin had not rested since starting her night shift last night.

After such a major case, meetings, discussions, arranging the manhunt, compensating the victims—every task was exhausting, mentally and physically.

Lei Family's Older Brother had not come to Lu PingAn for a buff because he was working overtime too. There was no need to say who had passed this news along.

Xia Qin was calling him while taking a moment out of a meeting.

"Yes. I feel like gardening suits me pretty well. You know I'm terrible at fighting, and I don't have time to train. A way to grow stronger and make money just by sitting around and waiting seems pretty suitable for me, doesn't it?"

"It is. Logistics-oriented paths are also the easiest ones to qualify for at Gu Da."

Though she said that, Xia Qin sounded somewhat disappointed. Then, as if casually, she added another remark.

"Could it be because gardeners are Life-type too, just like the Mother Goddess?"

"Mother Goddess? What's that? I didn't see it in any of the reference books."

"You little rascal. You expect me to believe you don't know? Forget it, do as you please. Are you going to the Forest Secret Realm to complete your career alignment? I'll get you an exit permit and entry clearance. Go quickly and come back quickly. Hey, you might actually be safer over there. Decide for yourself. Do you know where it is? I don't have time to take you there right now."

With only three people on hand and no one at home to protect him, Lu PingAn might actually be safer going out alone.

Thinking of the current situation, Xia Qin sighed helplessly and stopped insisting.

The power borrowed by the gardener profession came from the Life-type deity, the Maiden of the Forest.

In a sense, she had some history with Lu PingAn.

"The one near Lin Ci Hospital? I know it."

The hospital where Lu PingAn had received treatment and Chris had infiltrated was referred to simply as Lin Ci Hospital. Its full name was Ancient City Third Hospital of the Maiden of the Forest's Benevolence Toward the World.

Just as the Chaser Church had invested heavily in sports and health programs, the Maiden of the Forest's name appeared extensively throughout the medical and pharmaceutical industries.

As a relatively benevolent higher being, she could provide Keepers of Secrets with the starting points for the two relatively gentle Life-type paths of gardener and healer, making her quite popular in certain circles.

The rituals for taking a Tier 0 profession were not standardized, but they followed certain patterns. They were usually held in places where They could easily form a connection (the principle of connection), or involved doing things They enjoyed or had once done (the principle of similarity).

To become a gardener watched over by the Maiden of the Forest, one had to complete a specific ritual in her sacred ground—planting a tree.

"A divine secret realm? That should be different from a wild secret realm, right?"

After spending more time around Keepers of Secrets, Lu PingAn had naturally learned a phrase they often repeated.

"Pollution can only be covered by a higher level of pollution. Or diluted by a greater amount of pollution."

This seemed to be a truth of this world, revealing a helpless reality: "pollution" would not disappear.

It would only move from one place to another, from one individual to another.

That was the core reason he was being monitored. After Chris's secret realm and her Main Body had both "disappeared," even without evidence, he, as the victor, had become a key subject of surveillance.

Since Chris was considered ZZ-level pollution—a Tier 9 quasi-god—he had, by the rules, earned the legendary observation treatment reserved for Z-level, near-god, through ZZZ-level, god, pollution.

But that raised another question.

"How are other Tier 4-and-above Pollution Incidents involving secret realms handled?"

Since secret realms were difficult, if not impossible, to eliminate, what happened in the end to those that appeared in urban areas?

Considering Xia Qin had said they encountered one every few months, even if they threw in all available manpower, they probably could not plug that endlessly expanding hole.

"Actually, the method is the same as with Professionals: borrow the power of the 'gods' to transform the secret realm."

"Fight magic with magic? Fight pollution with pollution?"

"Though that's a strange analogy, that's more or less what it means. Use the rules of one pollution to erode and reshape another, turning it from chaotic disorder into something orderly, stable, and safe."

After Keepers of Secrets cleared out the deeply polluted elements within many secret realms, they would invite priests of a True God to introduce that True God's power and transform the realm, making it less harmful—or rather, profitable.

Some Small Worlds became the property of companies or churches. Others became training grounds for Keepers of Secrets or sources of certain specialized resources.

Pollution only accumulated; it never decreased. It could only be diluted, never completely destroyed. To periodically clear out or dilute the accumulated pollution, Keepers of Secrets often entered these secret realms on a regular basis.

It was said that some relatively safe and controllable secret realms had been used by Relevant Departments years ago to secretly create controllable "Polluted Ones."

These "artificial Polluted Ones" tended to be weak in the early stages because the pollution level of their innate abilities was not high. But once they became Professionals and grew stronger, that apparently was not much of a problem.

Secret realms required Keepers of Secrets to deal with them regularly, while more Keepers of Secrets brought more pollution. Their actions accumulated still more pollution, which naturally gave rise to more secret realms.

"Using pollution to fight pollution is like using ink to clean a graffiti wall. Sooner or later, everything will become a blot of black. Is the whole world drinking poison to quench its thirst?"

No wonder some said every Keeper of Secrets was a terminal patient with a chronic illness, and that the entire world was sliding into the abyss.

Ahem, that was getting off track. For Lu PingAn, all he needed to know was that going to the secret realm was necessary.

But he still lacked confidence in combat, so he brought insurance.

"Cat Cat, let's go!"

He had hired an experienced dungeon runner! One who paid him, at that!

"Hehe, with your ability this time, I'm in such great shape that I'll definitely make a killing! Meow! Actually, even if you hadn't invited me, I was planning to go tomorrow."

Cat Cat's brilliant smile made Lu PingAn feel inexplicably guilty, and he shoved the spray bottle deeper into his pocket.

"By the way, have you run the secret realm at the hospital before? What are its rules?"

Every deity had their own preferences, and secret realms reshaped according to their rules came in all varieties.

Rules themselves were orderly, so such secret realms were relatively safe.

Chris's quasi-god secret realm was a one-on-one arena, the sort where the dead were hung on the walls and only the living could leave.

If you did not choose an opponent, she would maliciously arrange for you to face the person closest to you, the one you had the best relationship with.

Some secret realms were a dreamlike illusion. Some were a piece of history that had once occurred. Some were frantic Games. Some were garden sanctuaries with endless scenery. Some were simple, straightforward survival games.

In Lu PingAn's view, Lady Lin had a fairly good reputation. Her secret realm should be relatively safe, right?

"Oh, it's a slaughter game. Kill pollution, kill Polluted Ones—the more you kill, the greater the rewards. It's extremely straightforward, and it's also the most common type of secret realm."

Lu PingAn froze. Wasn't she a Life-type deity?

"You didn't know? The Life-type is universally acknowledged as the cruelest. But the Lady of the Forest does have a good reputation. She hates death, so no one dies in her secret realm, meow. Anyone killed revives directly at the entrance, but they can't enter again for a while."

In her own world, she could even reverse the boundary between life and death? For the first time, Lu PingAn understood just how absurd so-called gods could be.

At the same time, he understood why Xia Qin had said he would probably be safer inside than at home.

But from another angle, didn't that mean—

"Inside, you can freely kill people for practice?"

"Mm, but everyone's trial attempts are precious resources. Messing around like that will offend people, and there will still be trouble after you leave. Most people mind their own business inside. Their main targets are the polluted monsters produced by the secret realm itself. Why are you smiling? It's a little creepy, meow."

"No, I'm just happy. Hehe, let's go. Let's go."