Three Men and One Woman

Wu Jie grabbed Cheng Shaofeng.

"Don't worry about them! If you go in, we won't be able to get out either! Leave this place first. I know somewhere safe."

"But if I ignore them, won't they be killed by you?"

That was what Cheng Shaofeng said.

Wu Jie said, "Us? What are you talking about, Shaofeng? I came to save you! Scavengers live together and die apart! Even though you left, I can't let you die in there. Actually, I noticed something was wrong with Salt Well Town a long time ago."

The corner of Cheng Shaofeng's mouth lifted slightly. "Oh? How so? There's something wrong with Salt Well Town?"

"Yes! I've been listening to the sounds at night these past few days. They could very well be the wails of ghosts. The Town Chief hasn't come out in so long—don't you find that suspicious? Think about it carefully. Has the Town Chief appeared before us at all this past year? No! I suspect the Town Chief is already... dead. What's in his room is actually his ghost."

Cheng Shaofeng chuckled. "Like a ghost such as you?"

Wu Jie froze, then gave an awkward laugh. "How could I be a ghost? Look at the ground—I have a shadow!"

"But unfortunately, you don't have a Health Bar."

Wu Jie said, "A Health Bar?"

Cheng Shaofeng looked around. "What a hard-to-distinguish scene. What the eyes see isn't necessarily real, but the base's scan can't be wrong."

Blue light flickered in Cheng Shaofeng's eyes.

The surrounding scene was overlaid with a layer of azure light—the enhanced display technology.

The base's various data points appeared over the surrounding objects, outlining the rough shape of the environment.

The scene before him was incredibly strange!

What Cheng Shaofeng saw was one scene, while the base's image was superimposed on an entirely different plane.

He took two steps to the right, where there was supposedly an open patch of ground.

He raised his foot and kicked at the air.

Smack!

His kick hit flesh.

"There's... someone lying here, isn't there?"

Wu Jie's expression changed instantly. "How did you find out?"

Cheng Shaofeng looked in the direction Wu Jie had intended to take him. The system had outlined the model of a wall there, clearly Salt Well Town's outer wall.

"So your goal was still to take me back into town, wasn't it?"

Black mist rose from Wu Jie's body, and his face twisted into something ferocious. "How can you see it! You're clearly just an ordinary person! Tell me! Otherwise, I'll suck you dry into a husk!"

Cheng Shaofeng paid no attention to "Wu Jie's" threat.

Azure scanning light flashed in his eyes. He extended a fist, which passed straight through "Wu Jie's" body.

"You forgot. I can see clearly. There's actually no one in front of me, because there's nothing blocking the way. So your threat... has no effect on me."

When there was an obstruction ahead, the base's image would overlay the obstructing body. Otherwise, it would overlay the sky in the background.

Wu Jie flew into a rage in midair. Eight arms sprouted from his body, along with three faces, his long hair hanging to his shoulders. He looked like some grotesque monster.

Cheng Shaofeng was unimpressed.

"You can't scare me. As long as I stick to materialism, no amount of horror scenes you show me will work."

He glanced at his Smartwatch. Xiao Xiao's light dot had already entered the town, while Forgiveness Hat's light dot was running toward him.

"Forgiveness Hat noticed something was wrong too. Good. Let's meet up first."

Cheng Shaofeng had long expected ghosts to exist in this world. Many ghost stories circulated through Salt Well Town, and it was unlikely that all of them had been fabricated. This was the wasteland era, after all. Human survival itself was difficult—what outside Mutated Creatures or Raiders weren't more terrifying than ghosts?

Yet ghost stories still spread in such an environment, which meant that a few true stories might be mixed in among them.

Like the magicians performing onstage—who knew whether a few actual mages might be mixed in too?

And the key reason Cheng Shaofeng wasn't afraid was that he had the Nano Base.

The Nano Base's protective shield had already activated and was resisting the Phantasmal Erosion for him. Its energy consumption was negligible.

These ghosts in this world have such weak attacks. They probably can't even compare to one-thousandth of radiation. Or perhaps as long as I don't enter a ghost's kill zone or trigger some instant-kill condition, they can't do anything to me? And these ghosts all want to lure us into town... so as long as we stay away from the town, we should be able to escape.

Wu Jie had already pounced onto Cheng Shaofeng's face, doing everything he could to frighten him. He looked as horrifying as could be.

But he could still only cause the tiniest bit of damage to the protective shield, not even consuming 0.01% of its energy.

"Soldier, I'm here!"

Forgiveness Hat was delighted when he heard the voice.

"Just as I thought! Everything I see is fake. I can only find the Lord by following the Smartwatch's location!"

In his field of vision, Cheng Shaofeng was not on the route ahead at all, but in the complete opposite direction. Still, he chose to follow the route indicated by his watch.

Sure enough, he would soon find the Lord.

Behind him, "Wang Qian" and "Wang Wan" had already turned into two puddles of monsters, baring their teeth as they followed closely behind.

Just as the two were about to meet up, the three ghosts stopped, exchanged glances, and vanished into the air.

Before Forgiveness Hat could celebrate, his vision suddenly went black, and he passed out on the spot.

Beep beep beep!

When Forgiveness Hat opened his eyes, he was sitting on a small motorcycle at a traffic light intersection in Magic City. A phone rested on the handlebars, displaying his route and destination. Behind him, a small truck was honking wildly.

It was 11:40 in the morning, and he was running errands.

His head felt a little muddled, but Forgiveness Hat quickly started the motorcycle and headed for the customer's home.

Seriously, how did I fall asleep while waiting at a red light? I played games too late last night. It's all that Sentinel from the forum's fault. He can't farm equipment himself and asks me for gear every day. He even wants me to help level his alt! Damn freeloader! If he weren't so good at talking... I definitely wouldn't help him.

Soon, the small motorcycle stopped outside an ordinary residential complex.

He pressed the elevator button. Thirty-second floor.

The top floor.

Forgiveness Hat rang the doorbell of the building's only resident, but no one answered for a long while.

He called loudly from outside the door, "Hello, sir. I'm the errand runner you hired. You want me to deliver something, right?"

Clang!

The door to a triangular storage room beside him opened.

A young man crawled out from inside. He looked to be in his early twenties, like he had just graduated from college.

"Sir, over here! I'm the one who placed the order."

"Today is my girlfriend's birthday. Please deliver a birthday gift to her company this afternoon. Before... before she gets off work. Deliver it at seven thirty. The address is the café beneath Duoyu Building. She works there as a barista."

"Sir, you're such a thoughtful boyfriend. I guarantee I'll deliver it on time and make her coworkers jealous that her boyfriend knows romance."

"Hehe~"

He accepted a large bouquet of flowers from the man. A small gift box sat on top, looking like it contained expensive cosmetics.

Forgiveness Hat was just about to leave.

The man crawled out through the triangular door and shouted, "Wait! The timing might have changed!"

He held a phone and was chatting with his girlfriend while calling out, "Wait, wait... please hold on. It seems like she has other plans today."

"It's fine. Confirm it first. A surprise has to be just right."

"Thanks, thanks! I'll be right there."

The young man chatted with the girl on his phone, sending line after line of text, but his expression grew darker and darker.

From his angle, Forgiveness Hat could see the conversation's contents.

Man: "I'll pick you up after work tonight, and we can have hotpot?"

Woman: "Ah! I already made plans to hang out with friends tonight. I'm leaving at six, so how about we eat another day?"

Man: "A gathering with friends? Men or women?"

Woman: "Both men and women."

Man: "Oh, how many men and how many women?"

Woman: "Three men and one woman."

Man: "Is the woman your coworker? Do I know her? Give me her number. If I can't get through to you, I'll call your friend."

Woman: "The woman is me."

Man: "?"

Man: "???"

Man: "You're going out with three men tonight??? It's your birthday today!"

Woman: "Are you angry?"

Man: "Yeah."

Man: "What exactly are you thinking? Do you think it's appropriate for you to go out with three men at night???"

Woman: "I think I can clearly separate a romantic relationship from friendship. I won't cross any boundaries. They're all very good friends~"

Man: "So you still want to go?"

Woman: "They're just friends. There's nothing wrong with hanging out, right?"

Man: "Then let's be friends too."

Woman: "Then we'll be friends. I wish you happiness."

"Fuck!"

The young man punched the triangular door.

Clang!

His fist immediately bruised badly.

Forgiveness Hat said, "..."

It had been a perfectly ordinary errand. How had it ended in... a breakup?

"How can she treat me like this? How can she do this... Why is she going out with three men? Why does she have to treat me like this on her birthday... Why did it turn out this way? Back in college, she clearly said she would marry no one but me..."

The man slid down the iron door and collapsed onto the floor, tears welling in his eyes.

Forgiveness Hat asked awkwardly, "Sir... should I not deliver this gift after all?"

After staring blankly for a moment, the man suddenly took the paper box from among the flowers, bent down and entered the room, wrote a line of words, then put it back into the box.

"Deliver it! Deliver it at five this afternoon. Remember, you must deliver it when she has the most coworkers around, and make her open the box! You must! You absolutely must make it happen! I'll pay you extra!"

Without giving him a chance to refuse, he stuffed 200 yuan into his hand.

"Okay... okay."

It was the client's request. Forgiveness Hat could only accept it, especially since there was extra pay. He had to get it done, and get it done beautifully.

He pressed the elevator button, and a scene suddenly flashed through his mind: this young man falling to his death from the thirty-second floor.

He jolted in shock!

He seemed to remember something.

"How did I transmigrate here from the game???"

This was an order he had taken a year ago. Back then, just after going downstairs, he had watched the young man from the thirty-second floor jump.

Right in front of him, the man had smashed into a pulp.

At that time, Forgiveness Hat had opened the gift box and found a line written in red ink:

"Pan Xiaoting, you drove me to my death!"

Forgiveness Hat turned to look at the young man sitting beneath the triangular door. The despair in his eyes was nearly spilling over.

There would be another update during the day.