214. Mutation
When Lu Ban returned home after seeing Feng Yu off, the living room had already been tidied up.
The kitchen was spotless, and everything looked brand new.
The most troublesome step in cooking has been taken care of, and Lu Ban is quite tempted to cook more often in the future.
But after thinking about it, Lu Ban decided against it. After tasting Feng Yu 'Feng Yu food, he felt that his instant noodles were not tasty at all.
Although she was once considered a mukbang streamer, Lu Ban only knows the Lu Family's Old Method recipes, and the taste of her dishes is only passable, mainly because the ingredients are good.
He watched the countdown clock on the Spring Festival Gala and heard faint sounds of people counting down from his neighborhood. When midnight arrived, the New Year's bells rang, and a joyful and peaceful atmosphere filled the air.
As the song "Unforgettable Tonight" played, Lu Ban's phone vibrated several times. He glanced at it and saw that they were all blessing messages.
What's remarkable is that the messages of blessing sent to Lu Ban were mostly not mass messages; they were clearly typed by hand.
For example, Qin Tiantian brought along her family's New Year's Eve dinner, which was different from the Jiangcheng cuisine that Lu Ban ate today. Her family's dinner was mainly spicy, and even the stir-fried cabbage had pickled peppers, which looked very spicy. That's probably why her skin is so good!
Feng Yu sent a message saying she had arrived home safely, along with a simple blessing. It was very heartfelt, but Lu Ban was very suspicious of what might have happened to prevent her from getting home safely.
As for Song Yunyan, Li Zijian, and others, they also sent brief messages.
To Lu Ban's surprise, police officers He Youwu and Chen Danshen also sent messages.
[Motionless]: You've worked hard!
He replied that it was the Lunar New Year, and the two police officers must be having a tough time; they might still be on duty.
I can't cause them any trouble.
In just over ten minutes, Lu Ban had replied to all the messages.
He had no friends and no family.
Being able to have New Year's Eve dinner with Feng Yu today is enough to feel the festive atmosphere of the New Year.
Nothing happened overnight. After getting up in the morning, Lu Ban glanced at the system.
Number of companions: 2/1
The conditions for starting the mission have been met.
[Start the mission?]
[Participants will enter the Silent Land after confirmation of participation.]
"All done in one night?"
If it were two people, it would mean that both Trist and Xiya agreed.
Lu Ban was still somewhat moved.
Since they didn't even know what the mission was yet, the two of them accepted Lu Ban's invitation, which shows that there is still genuine affection in the Silent Land.
"Let me check out the mission."
On the table in front of Lu Ban, a tattered book appeared. The book was not very thick and looked like a novel bought from a bookstore.
The book is both illusory and real, and seems out of place with its surroundings.
"Um?"
Lu Ban found it strange that there was only one book.
Normally, he should be given three options to choose from.
Could it be that there are different tasks in the open book?
He glanced at the book cover, which depicted a man driven to madness. The loss of reason had altered his appearance, his face contorted and his body moving inhumanly. He seemed to be muttering something, Lu Ban felt as if he were hearing the ravings of an evil god. Just looking at the cover a few more times made him feel dizzy and lightheaded.
Lu Ban opened the book. On the yellowed pages, the system's cold and indifferent words appeared as if they had been hastily written with a fountain pen.
The Mouth of the Madman
All truth is illusion, all delusion is reality.
The high society of the Ruined City was, of course, filled with endless banquets, mellow grape juice, and romantic tales.
A renowned novelist has left behind the missing manuscript of his new book, a masterpiece that drives readers to madness and captivates them with its immortal chapters; however, the ending remains unknown.
You've been hired to investigate this case, but the eerie atmosphere suggests that this is no ordinary missing person case.
[Task Difficulty: Selectable]
[Mission Requirements: Find the missing novelist]
[Mission Requirement: Witness the ending of the story]
"A masterpiece, a perfect masterpiece, without a doubt, this will change the world!"
Lu Ban flipped through the pages, but didn't see any other task options.
In a daze, the words on the pages of the book changed again.
[Side quest item detected; quest changed]
[Task Difficulty: Alienation]
[Mission Requirements: Find the missing novelist]
[Mission Requirement: Witness the ending of the story]
[Task Requirements: Find the fragments of Du Danping's Melody Fragment]
"Is this a place Du Danping visited?"
Amidst Lu Ban's surprise and doubt, he also confirmed a few things.
"Is this the Ruined City, which is also Trist's own alien realm?"
"The difficulty of the mutation is high, and it's in the Ruined City. I wonder what I'll encounter?"
"But it seems unlikely that we'd be attacked by monsters in a Ruined City city?"
"Looking for someone? Shouldn't we be able to find this Xiya directly using scouting techniques?"
However, the sudden change in the difficulty of the transformation made Lu Ban feel a bit mentally challenged.
In his own words, all difficulties are about the same; just go for it.
However, since he brought teammates this time, if Trist and Xiya couldn't handle the challenging mission and something happened to them, Lu Ban, who invited them, would feel somewhat guilty.
"At this point, all we can do is try our best to prepare."
Lu Ban thought to himself.
Since this is a high-difficulty task that we have never encountered before, we need to gather more information first.
After all, Lu Ban doesn't have many Silence Points left after refining [Last Words], so the support he can provide is limited. Buying more items is not as good as Trist finding a way to fire a shot or Xiya casting a spell.
So what Lu Ban can do is use his advantage to fire more "Madman's Knowledge" shots and get more information about this mission.
According to Lu Ban's experience, after the mission is determined, the "Madman's Knowledge" will have a higher probability of drawing the corresponding mission or information from other realms related to the mission.
Having decided on his strategy, he immediately bought a "Madman's Knowledge" item at half price.
This time, what appeared in Lu Ban's hands was a human skull, no different from the one in the medical textbook.
The skull had a sticky texture, as if it were covered with a layer of grease, but when you actually touched it, it just felt smooth.
There were no flames burning inside the bones, nor any black mist; they were empty, like a granary that had been completely devoured by termites.
Lu Ban crushed the skull.
In an instant, countless murmurs echoed in his ears.
"This is the best work, a supreme masterpiece. Believe me, once you've read even one page of this manuscript, you won't disagree with me."
"He was incredibly talented and a romantic, but why did he disappear? Did he grow weary of the hustle and bustle of fame and fortune and yearn for a peaceful environment?"
He is not your father; you don't have such a father.
"I feel that this kind of manuscript might not have a perfect ending. Do you understand this feeling? The feeling of being driven crazy by inspiration and yet feeling helpless. I believe he felt the same way. Perhaps that's why he disappeared."
"Anyway, I just want to confirm his manuscript. As long as I can secure this novel, then it's definitely going to be done, it'll be done."
"It's not that I wrote these stories; rather, these stories entered my head. They were already there; I just happened to pick up these words."
Countless murmurs burned, churned, and exploded in Lu Ban's mind.
The next moment, thick black blood flowed from his eyes, nose, mouth, and ears. It felt as if ants were crawling inside his body, his skin swelled and contracted, and his whole body twisted and deformed.
thump--
Lu Ban to the ground, losing consciousness.
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