This Chicken Soup Was Quite Precious

Neat marble tiles covered the ground, and the Great Lamps overhead were bright and pleasing to the eye.

The street leading to the entrance was not long, but markets lined both sides. There were branded shops with decor that looked expensive at a glance, as well as densely packed independent vendors gathered for the market.

The crowd was not especially dense, but there were still at least a hundred people in sight.

Some shouted loudly to hawk their wares, while others silently read in front of their stalls, only looking up when someone approached.

"How much is this?"

Lu PingAn pointed at the longsword on the stall. Men always had a certain interest in such controlled weapons.

A faint blue light flowed over the blade, making it look like some legendary divine weapon—if not for the dozen identical ones displayed in the cabinet behind it.

"Two thousand six hundred each. It's standard-issue, but the piercing effect it comes with is quite suitable for beginners lacking offensive ability. If you're not directly combat-oriented, I also have weapons with a bleeding effect, though the price the user pays is a little higher."

The shopkeeper gave Lu PingAn a once-over. Seeing that his right wrist was completely bare, he immediately became much more enthusiastic.

"I have protective gear too, also part of a beginner set. Two pieces for just four thousand."

Did I really look that much like a newbie? Lu PingAn muttered to himself. He declined and put the longsword down.

He did not know how to use a sword, nor did he want to be a newbie delivering himself to the butcher's block.

Even if the other party had a conscience and quoted a market price, there were plenty of things on the market with terrible value for money. His already limited starting capital had to be spent where it mattered.

"Spend all three thousand I just got."

Looking at the bustling street and its hundreds of shops, Lu PingAn was somewhat surprised.

What had he imagined a dangerous secret realm exit would look like? Heavily guarded, with barbed wire and Men in Black? Or sentries every few steps, with Machine Guns and surveillance cameras?

"I really didn't expect it to look like a subway market."

The entrance passage was simply a turn beneath the hospital subway station.

Faced with the dazzling array of goods and shops, it became difficult to choose.

"This way, this way, meow!"

Fortunately, he had not come alone. Lei Shui Yun, who had vanished without a trace the instant they entered, had finally remembered her duties as a guide.

The shop where she was standing was near the end of the road, and it was also the source of everything before him.

"'Secret realms are wealth.'"

Seeing the New Red Cross symbol that was everywhere in Lin Ci Hospital—the familiar holy emblem of the Maiden Praying in the Woods—appear in this Underground World, Lu PingAn felt a strange sense of time and space overlapping.

"Two wristbands, meow. One Tier 0 and one Tier 1."

"Shui Yun, you've reached Tier 1? Congratulations, congratulations."

Across from the smug Cat Cat stood a seventeen- or eighteen-year-old girl. With her slightly mature makeup, lingering youthful air, and long white robe, she looked like a graduate student interning at a university.

In fact, she really was a graduate student.

"Lu PingAn, this is my Senior Sister Zhao Ying, meow. She's a first-year graduate student at Technology University. These are Senior Apprentice Liu and Senior Apprentice Li. They're third-years, and they're both here for internships, meow."

Watching Cat Cat enthusiastically call everyone sister and brother, Lu PingAn almost asked, "Exactly how many senior brothers and sisters do you have? How come you have good brothers and sisters everywhere you go?"

But judging by how close they were, and by the way the little cat called everyone Senior Brother or Senior Sister, the answer was probably a lot.

Could it be that the little one had made full use of her advantages and become a social butterfly?

With a little too much inner drama, Lu PingAn smiled and greeted the senior brothers and sister.

Gu City University of Science and Technology was also a prestigious local university. Yet a school named for science and technology had a professional department of mysticism, which always felt oddly ironic. More ironic still, perhaps, was that only Lu PingAn could appreciate the joke; everyone else considered it perfectly natural.

"Here. Remember not to overdo it. Many newcomers who have just broken through find it difficult to control themselves."

Along with the wristband, he received a small booklet. Lu PingAn now understood why the shopkeeper earlier had identified him at a glance as a complete newcomer.

The warning wristband, commonly known simply as a wristband, gave off a faint white glow the moment it was fitted around Lu PingAn's right wrist.

"Very good. You're in good condition. But for a newcomer, you should prepare to leave when it turns yellow. You must leave when it turns red. If it reaches purple or black..."

The light color indicated the degree to which one had endured primordial pollution.

Talents and supernatural abilities were pollution you were born with. Left alone, they would naturally grow.

The occupational system was pollution from the outside world. Only when it achieved a balance with you, the source of radiation, could it keep you from mutating.

But the occupational system also had its limits. When primordial pollution exceeded the limit, uncontrollable mutation naturally increased drastically.

Balance and restraint were the most important principles for Keepers of Secrets. Slamming on the accelerator might make you stronger, but it was even more likely to turn you into a monster.

"Newcomers have weak resistance to pollution. If you don't want to sprout extra tentacles and eyeballs for no reason, you'd better leave when it turns yellow."

Though she said that, Lu PingAn noticed that the wristbands of the senior brothers and sister were basically all red. Miss Zhao's was even red with a purplish tint.

"Us? We just completed a trial and are in the digestion phase."

Zhao Ying pointed at the table, where a pile of thick reference books and open reading notes lay.

At the table behind them, some people were seriously flipping through books, some were mixing medicine at a temporary lab bench, and others were arguing about something.

This was the property of a pharmaceutical company nominally under Lin Ci Church. Since these senior brothers and sister were interning at this company, most of them were fellow travelers on the Healer and Gardener paths.

Unlike Runners, who belonged to the physical type, Healers and Gardeners were knowledge-accumulation professions more suited to desk work.

Like Runners who ran madly onward, they consumed that primal, dangerous pollution by turning it into occupational skills and feeding the converted Forbidden Knowledge into their occupational systems.

"Knowledge is power. So, would you like to buy some power?"

At last, the kind Senior Sister revealed her true purpose and began selling to Lu PingAn.

The wristband was free. That was one of the responsibilities borne by the Secret Realm Manager.

But the Lin Ci Secret Realm Common Demonic Plant Guide, 101 Edition, which covered most of the Demonic Plants that might appear within the secret realm, was a little expensive.

"Junior Brother, for just one thousand, you can take the Plant Guide home. I'll even include a cultivation manual I compiled myself, covering the cultivation essentials for fifteen common Demonic Plants. It's perfect for beginner Gardeners."

"Little Shui Yun said you came to establish your track and take up a profession, right? Demonic Plants need a long time to grow and require long-term supervision. You'll need to come by regularly, and you'll have to guard against bored people sabotaging them. Our company has a safe-zone garden inside, specially for clients with the six-month employment package. We guarantee you'll successfully establish your track and take up your profession in one go. Only five thousand."

"Oh, right, Junior Brother, this is your first time here, isn't it? You probably aren't familiar with the monsters in this secret realm. This survival manual is only two hundred. If you take the Plant Guide, I'll throw it in for free! And I can also give you some painkillers and antidotes. They'll be useful inside."

What a three-pronged sales pitch. She truly deserved to be the local company's deputy team leader.

Yet after hesitating briefly, Lu PingAn still painfully pulled out his wallet and bought the Plant Guide and survival manual.

They had been on his planned shopping list in the first place. As a knowledge-based profession, a Gardener needed his own guidebook, perhaps even a library of forbidden books.

As for the employment package that took "only six months"? If his guess was right, he probably would not need it.

After he made his purchase, her attitude indeed became even more enthusiastic. She called him Junior Brother with effortless familiarity.

Now it was Lu PingAn's turn to reveal his true purpose.

"Senior Sister, you're a Tier 2 Gardener, right? Actually, your Junior Brother here has a rather interesting support-type talent ability. Half price for a trial."

Lei Huo Ren and Xia Qin were both busy, without even time to return for buffs. Naturally, the slots could not be left unused.

Since he was preparing to become a Gardener, changing the person he split the proceeds with was perfectly acceptable.

Zhao Ying hesitated. A few hundred yuan was nothing, but could she casually accept some random buff?

But when she saw Cat Cat behind Lu PingAn continuously nodding and mouthing, "Agree," Zhao Ying still agreed.

"I've treated Little Shui Shui pretty well. She wouldn't cheat me."

The next moment, she froze, and the look in her eyes as she regarded Lu PingAn became somewhat complicated.

"...The Voice of Rules? Such a high-level rule-based ability—how could it appear on a newcomer? Has another monstrous newcomer appeared this year?"

But the next second, she was no longer merely surprised. She was stunned.

The red light on her wristband suddenly flashed, then shifted to yellow, then green, and finally to the white light of "No Pollution"!

The learning process that had originally been expected to take at least three days ended instantly. She could enter the secret realm again and begin another round of improvement.

She reacted at once and covered her wristband.

She looked around. Fortunately, no one had noticed.

When she looked back up at Lu PingAn, there was unease and even fear in her eyes.

Then the fear turned into delight, even greed.

At that moment, the utterly bewildered Lu PingAn inexplicably recalled the tearful complaint of a certain Big Cat.

"...You have no idea what an incredibly precious treasure you stole from me."

It seemed to be quite the treasure. And quite expensive, too.

"Ahem. Stop staring. It won't get any cheaper no matter how long you look. Slots are limited. Tomorrow, it'll be full price, and after that, it'll keep going up."