Bai Xiaowen, the Busy Man

Amidst the clinking of glasses and lively conversation, Qi Ruifeng's phone suddenly rang.

Qi Ruifeng glanced at the message, his expression shifting slightly, revealing a look of surprise and delight.

"Everyone, please be quiet. I have some good news for you."

The room fell silent.

"The teacher just sent a message saying that, according to the monitoring of the school's personnel, another Special Treasure Ground's psionic rift has shown fluctuations and is expected to open within one to two weeks," Qi Ruifeng said with a smile. "This is the second Special Treasure Ground event this academic year, and we hope everyone will participate enthusiastically."

"Really!" Everyone's faces lit up with joy.

Special Treasure Ground are large fragments that have broken off from the Spirit Realm Plane. They can be seen as independent spaces that generally follow the rules of the Spirit Realm.

However, because they are outside the Spirit Realm Plane, no main quests will be generated in these Special Treasure Ground.

In other words, anyone who enters Special Treasure Ground can leave the Treasure Ground Space at any time, regardless of whether they are in combat! This is similar to the Free Exploration Time gained after completing the main quest in the Spirit Realm Plane.

Furthermore, Treasure Ground Space typically contain special spiritual treasures. Unlike the Spirit Realm Plane, these spiritual treasures are yours once you take them out of the Treasure Ground Space!

The combination of low risk and high returns makes exploring Treasure Ground Space more popular than exploring Spirit Realm Plane —moreover, killing monsters in Treasure Ground Space also increases combat experience.

If there's any drawback, it's the inability to discover side quests. But for many people, this drawback is negligible.

Li Sheng suddenly asked, "Then... which Treasure Ground Space experienced fluctuations?"

"Dead Spirit Lake"

Amidst the flashes of light, Bai Xiaowen and Li Shuyi returned to the guild restaurant where they had started.

It was dinnertime, and some single Awakened members of the Super God Guild were having dinner in the guild restaurant.

Bai Xiaowen and Li Shuyi's sudden appearance immediately made them the focus of everyone's attention in the restaurant.

Fortunately, the time-space distortion wasn't too severe. If the two of them had landed on someone's soup bowl when they returned... that would have been awkward.

"Young Miss? And Little Bai... Oh, so you've returned from the Spirit Realm." The Old Demon slurped down a bowl of soup, smiling broadly as he spoke.

Li Shuyi was a little shy.

Bai Xiaowen waved to everyone in the restaurant. "Good evening, everyone! Could I have a fast food meal? I haven't eaten for several meals in the Spirit Realm."

The woman serving the food at the restaurant glanced at Bai Xiaowen's straight nose a couple more times, then scooped up a generous portion of meat slices next to the white rice with a clatter, looking incredibly tempting.

"Thank you, and another one for Shu Yi, please." Bai Xiaowen flashed a handsome smile and swiped his membership card.

The older woman nodded, and with another "clatter," she scooped up a full spoonful—she still recognized the young lady.

The guild restaurant offers good service; the meat slices are all from mutated beasts, which can be included in the Enhancement Recipe. Mid- to high-level Awakened Ones might not care about the Psionic Particles in the Enhancement Recipe, but the taste of mutated beast meat is a whole level higher than that of domesticated livestock.

Bai Xiaowen and Li Shuyi, holding their bowls, sat down opposite the Old Demon.

"Uncle Old Demon...wait, I remember there was a non-mainstream guy sitting next to you just now." Bai Xiaowen's Insight and memory were terrifying. Even though it was under the watchful eyes of everyone, he only glanced at the restaurant and automatically memorized the layout and seating as if he were taking a picture.

Even if you blindfold Bai Xiaowen now and ask him to name how many chairs and how many people were in the restaurant, he could still recite the details perfectly after recalling the "filming" footage.

And that non-mainstream guy from earlier... he looked kind of familiar... I've seen him at least once, though it might have been a while ago.

"What do you mean by 'non-mainstream'? That's Captain Blade," the Old Demon said with a laugh.

"Oh, it's Captain Nie Kong. Why did he leave so quickly?" Bai Xiaowen glanced at the restaurant entrance, trying to spot Nie Kong's Blade figure.

"Heh heh, he doesn't want to run into you," the Old Demon said. "Haven't you noticed? Captain Blade has been avoiding you the whole time."

"Why are you avoiding me?" Bai Xiaowen thought back to the past, and it seemed to be true. Even though Blade Nie Kong was always at the Super God Guild headquarters building, and Bai Xiaowen often came there, the two of them had never seen each other or spoken since their first meeting.

"Do you remember before the National College Entrance Examination, when the president asked Blade to tutor you?" Old Demon reminded him. "Back then, Captain Blade asserted that you had no chance of becoming the National Exam Top Scholar..."

Bai Xiaowen laughed.

"The captain feels awkward seeing you, so he's been avoiding you."

Bai Xiaowen almost burst out laughing like a pig, "What's this all about? Just because of this?"

The Old Demon nodded. "That's why."

"Okay, I see now... just how immature and delusional this guy is."

Bai Xiaowen shrugged. Nie Kong's unconventional outfit—a top with fine metallic spiky details, ripped jeans, and earrings—speaks volumes.

The Old Demon chuckled, "So, don't you think Captain Blade is kind of cute?"

Bai Xiaowen shuddered; he couldn't find anything cute about it.

"Uncle Old Demon, I have an important question to ask," Bai Xiaowen thought for a moment, then put on a serious expression and asked somewhat solemnly, "In the past few days... has anyone contacted the guild about me?" He was referring to the Boutu Guild in Taiwan Base City.

"Yes, you're a very busy person," the Old Demon, clearly misunderstanding the situation. "Let me list them for you... Old Zhang from the pharmacy has been asking when you're coming back, saying he found a newspaper in Beijing and wants to do an interview with you; your personal agent, Zheng Jinyan, has also contacted you, saying she wants to organize a fan meeting; and... well, to be honest, Fu Hong, the boss of Titan Potion House, has also been indirectly asking around about you, apparently wanting to invite you to dinner..."

"I'm so busy..." Bai Xiaowen, somewhat amused and exasperated.

The Old Demon continued, "And there's more. A few days ago, a female teacher from your school surnamed Yan asked when you were coming back. She even left a message telling you to hurry back to school as soon as you get back, as she had something important to discuss. There are also some other miscellaneous interview requests from local media outlets, but I won't go into details... In short, you're really a busy guy these days."

"Uncle Old Demon, it's not surprising that these people are looking for me," Bai Xiaowen asked again, "Has no one come looking for trouble?"

"Cause trouble for you? No way." The Old Demon shook his head, saying confidently, "Who would have the time to offend a rising star like you? Your strength is already ridiculously high, and you can even make perfect-grade potions. People are more than happy to treat you like royalty."