"Like Oil and Water"

"No, who the hell am I, really?"

Chu Huai Xu crouched by the corpse, frowning, cursing inwardly.

He had no memory of this character's past, nor had he received any information from the system yet.

Thus, he didn't even know which faction his character belonged to.

Who am I? Where did I come from? Where am I going?

He had no clue!

"Oh, wait! That guy said I need to infiltrate the Dao Sect."

With that thought, Chu Huai Xu made a snap decision: "I'll do the opposite!"

He was now certain he had transmigrated.

If he followed the predetermined path, the lack of memory and information would leave him feeling uncertain and unsafe.

"In the game, there are Revival Coins—die and you can pop one to come back."

"Even though my Character Panel shows I have three Revival Coins, just like every starting account."

"But... what if?"

"This is transmigration, not still playing a game—what if they don't work!"

So he figured he should be relatively cautious.

Just now, he heard the System prompt sound, telling him the Mission System was activating.

For Chu Huai Xu, this was extremely important.

"Borrowed Sword" was a game with high freedom; players could explore and develop on their own, with many ways to earn Experience Points to upgrade their character, skills, or equipment.

The most official way to earn Experience Points was, of course, doing missions.

"If these functions still work, then they'll be my Golden Finger for survival after transmigration," Chu Huai Xu thought.

Back on Earth, he could survive by "selling his looks," doing borderline stuff in the game, and going all out.

He couldn't fall back on his old trade after transmigrating, could he?

Then he wouldn't be a so-called Virtual Male Model—he'd be screaming bloody murder.

Chu Huai Xu knew well that in "Borrowed Sword," strength was everything!

His fox-like face, handsome enough to charm both men and women, was at best a bonus.

Time ticked on for a few more seconds, and the Mission System finally fully activated.

A System prompt sound, audible only to him, rang in his ears, like a Secret telepathic message.

"Ding! Mission System activated!"

"Evaluating your Initial Completion Rating"

"Determined: You have escaped the interception from 'Xue Hu'"

"Determined: You successfully counter-killed him during the escape"

"Determined—"

Chu Huai Xu listened to the string of evaluation prompts, silently complaining in his mind: "What do you mean I counter-killed him during the escape? I didn't run at all, okay?"

"I should've led him on a wild goose chase for a bit—might've squeezed some useful info out of him along the way."

"But no, I one-shot him!"

With that thought, Chu Huai Xu slapped the corpse again.

"Smack—!"

You see, since "Borrowed Sword" could pass review, the game's guidance for players was generally positive, not steering them toward evil or demonic paths.

Thus, Xue Hu, lying dead before him, was definitely someone who deserved to die—no good bird, falling into the "red-name mob" category. Chu Huai Xu felt no psychological burden at all.

In fact, after killing him, he even gained 100 Experience Points.

Meanwhile, the two masked men watching Chu Huai Xu from a distance couldn't help but twitch their lips beneath their masks.

They couldn't fathom why he kept slapping Xue Hu every so often.

Was the feel really that good?

But as members of the organization, they had some of the strongest loyalty to the Moon Kingdom and the fiercest hostility toward the Mirror Kingdom.

Since Xue Hu was from the Mirror Kingdom, they didn't find the Fox Face's actions too harsh.

Besides, people in the organization lived under a lot of pressure, and those with peculiar hobbies were far from rare, so—

—They didn't get it, but they respected it!

After exchanging a glance, the man in the Golden Mask spoke: "We should go."

"Sir, this newcomer is quite interesting. I'd like to observe a bit longer," the Silver Mask Man replied.

But the other man snorted coldly, and a wave of oppressive pressure surged forth:

"Hmph! Have you forgotten everything the organization taught you? What admonitions did we receive before departing for the Mirror Kingdom?"

The Golden Mask man spoke in a low voice: "Admonition number three: do not harbor excessive curiosity toward fellow members of the organization."

"It's for your own good, and for his too!"

The Silver Mask man immediately lowered his head, replying respectfully: "Yes, sir!"

Seeing his proper attitude, the Golden Mask man gave a slight nod, his tone softening a few degrees: "We both still have duties to attend to. This is the last Newcomer Reception Mission we're responsible for."

"Return to the Mirror Kingdom's Imperial Court and handle your share of the work well."

"I should head back to the Dao Sect as well."

The Silver Mask man promptly bowed with cupped hands: "Yes, sir."

With that, the two parted ways, soon vanishing into the rainy night.

Thus, they did not witness Chu Huai Xu's next move.

He rummaged through Xue Hu's body, pocketing the money pouch and other "drops" from the kill, then broke into a full sprint.

The reason was simple: the Mission System had just rated his Initial Completion Rating at 9.93 points, nearly a perfect score, and quickly issued a new system mission—escape the encirclement from the Patrol Office!

"Why would the Patrol Office have me in their sights?" Chu Huai Xu muttered, sprinting while consulting the Map, digesting the information in his mind.

There was probably something fishy here.

But he had no time to think about it now.

On this pitch-black, rainy night, he had to find a place that could give him a sense of safety.

The Patrol Office—he knew it well.

Once, when he'd started a new character, he'd been hunted by the Patrol Office right from the beginning. Curious to experience their special services, he'd turned his Pain Index to the lowest setting, deliberately let himself get caught, and endured a whole night of brutal torture.

And what happened?

Hell, it wasn't like those anti-Japanese war dramas where you survive all the gruesome tortures and unlock a secret ending—the honey trap!

Chu Huai Xu was now transmigrated, unable to adjust his pain levels. He knew damn well that if the Patrol Office caught him, he'd be in for a world of hurt.

At this moment, during his escape, he studied the Map, rapidly analyzing his escape route.

After some mental weighing, he decided to head for the nearby Wumeng Mountain.

In the game "Borrowed Sword," the Map featured many mountains and rivers from Earth.

There was the Yangtze River, the Yellow River, the Five Great Peaks.

So it wasn't strange to see Wumeng Mountain.

In fact, Wumeng Mountain was quite famous in "Borrowed Sword."

The reason was simple: one of the Four Great Sects, the Dao Sect, was located right next to Wumeng Mountain.

Players believed the game team must have included fans of the ancient duo Phoenix Legend in their design.

Phoenix Legend's song "Lady Shexiang" had this lyric: "Wumeng Mountain connects to Mountain Beyond Mountain."

So it wasn't hard to guess—the Dao Sect's location was called Mountain Beyond Mountain!

Chu Huai Xu's choice to flee toward Wumeng Mountain now actually went against his original intent.

Just moments ago, he'd thought about deliberately avoiding the Dao Sect out of sheer rebelliousness.

Now, he wasn't trying to sneak into the Dao Sect either; it was purely because Wumeng Mountain might be the nearest safe zone.

Based on the information from the Mission System, Chu Huai Xu's current situation wasn't actually that high-risk.

He'd just skimmed the mission details, and from what was revealed, it seemed only Xue Hu knew the inside story.

But Xue Hu was greedy for money, women, and credit, and hadn't shared a word with his colleagues.

The Patrol Office was rushing over now simply because each of them carried a Life Token. Once someone died, the Patrol Office would know immediately, and the Life Token had a positioning function.

"So if I head toward the Dao Sect's outer area, it should be better," Chu Huai Xu judged.

He was a veteran player of "Borrowed Sword," intimately familiar with the game's lore.

The Mirror Kingdom he was in now was led by the Four Great Sects, with the Mirror Kingdom's Imperial Court holding little power.

Simply put, the Dao Sect stood above the Imperial Court!

But the neighboring Moon Kingdom was different—the Imperial Court ruled over the sects, and the sects obeyed the court.

Wumeng Mountain was essentially the Dao Sect's front yard. Even if Imperial Court agents went there, they'd act more restrained to avoid provoking the Dao Sect.

Unless there were Special circumstances, Imperial Court personnel wouldn't even dare set foot there.

"And does killing a corrupt Patrol Office scumbag count as Special circumstances?" Chu Huai Xu didn't think so.

And so, he ran through the rainy night, his lower body caked in mud, his black hair drenched, his Fox Face adding a wild, slightly sinister charm to his soaked appearance.

He followed the Navigation Function on the Map, taking shortcuts all the way.

Chu Huai Xu dashed through the dense forest and arrived at the foot of Wumeng Mountain.

Then, his Pupils contracted slightly.

Because there was someone ahead!

On this rain-drenched night, he saw a woman holding an oil-paper umbrella, dressed in light blue, with a veil covering her face.

She stood about one meter seventy, with a slender, graceful figure and strikingly long legs.

Even though only the upper half of her face was visible through the veil, one could still tell she was a beauty.

Unfortunately, her overall demeanor was utterly cold—the slight furrow of her delicate brows and the appraising look in her beautiful eyes created an immense sense of distance.

The woman held her oil-paper umbrella, gazing at Chu Huai Xu standing in the downpour.

To her own surprise, she found herself blurting out her inner thoughts. Her voice sounded icy, yet the words she spoke stood in stark contrast to her tone and bearing:

"Hmm? Truly a top-tier Cultivation Cauldron."

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