After dinner, the Fatty cleaned up the kitchen as quickly as he could. While it was still light out, he put on his jacket and went for a run. Worried Jiang Cheng might fret, he made sure to tell him he'd stay nearby and wouldn't go far.
Jiang Cheng lounged on the sofa, sipping coffee. When the sound of the Fatty's footsteps had completely faded, he picked up his cup and went upstairs, returning to the bedroom to sit at the small table.
A breeze stirred, lifting the corner of the curtain. Through the half-open window, he could see the neon lights in the distance flickering on one after another. Before long, night would take over the world again.
The more missions he experienced, the more the boundary between the missions and reality blurred.
Beyond the window, people hurried about in all directions, busy but getting nowhere, like tireless ants. There was a woman dressed like an office worker, a man talking on his phone with a frantic look on his face, an elderly person picking up a child after school, and children skipping along the curb without a care in the world...
All kinds of people made up this world, so full of everyday life. It used to bore Jiang Cheng, but now, though he was reluctant to admit it, he truly felt a faint warmth he hadn't felt in a long time.
He didn't know when it had started, but he had become more connected to this world.
He looked away and leaned forward slightly, carefully pulling open the bottom drawer. Then he reached inside and, with practiced ease, found a latch. There was a hidden compartment inside.
He opened the wooden panel concealing the compartment, pushed aside the stacks of cash inside, and reached farther in. At