Rhapsody Under the Night Sky

Guo Shuai felt as if molten lava had been poured into his left eye socket.

The burning sensation surged along his optic nerve straight into his brain, nearly causing him to faint from the agony on the spot.

"Ugh... ah..."

He gripped the edge of the table so hard his fingernails nearly snapped.

However, the moment he was on the verge of collapse, the intense pain receded rapidly.

What followed was a sensation of numbness and itching.

But to his horror, Guo Shuai realized that his body was losing all feeling!

That Eye of Calamity was not only fusing with his nerves, it was actively devouring his soul!

It was trying to possess him!

His danger sense was screaming frantically, the warning flashing a deep, blackened red!

"You want to control me?!"

Guo Shuai slammed a fist into his magic core, using the sharp agony to forcibly reclaim a sliver of control over his body.

"I'm not even afraid of death, you think I'm afraid of you?!"

"I will never let you do as you please!!"

Guo Shuai was utterly ruthless.

Since his willpower wasn't enough, he would use even more extreme pain to stimulate himself!

He staggered over, grabbed a torture device hanging on the wall, and clamped it viciously around his neck!

That wasn't enough!

He grabbed a thick hemp rope that had likely hanged countless people, tied a noose, and looped it over a rusted iron hook on the ceiling.

Then, he shoved his neck inside.

He kicked the stool away.

Clang!

An intense sensation of suffocation struck him instantly!

The barbs on the torture device dug into his flesh, and the agony of asphyxiation deprived his brain of oxygen.

But it was precisely because of this extreme near-death stimulation that the numbing sensation of being possessed was forcibly suppressed!

"Cough... cough cough..."

Half a minute later.

That eerie itching sensation vanished completely, and a cooling feeling washed over his left eye.

His field of vision had returned!

It was even clearer than before!

He had succeeded!

He had harnessed this A-class weird artifact!

However...

Guo Shuai could not bring himself to laugh.

Because he was still dangling in mid-air, his face flushed to a liver color, his legs kicking wildly, his eyes rolling back into his head.

"Am... am I really going to die like this?"

"I wasn't killed by the monster... wasn't possessed... only to end up hanging myself?"

"Is this what they call... dying in mid-career?"

Guo Shuai was filled with an absurd sense of despair.

Just as his vision began to blur and he thought he was about to go meet Old Yang, a black shadow jumped down from the cellar entrance.

The person didn't even look, casually grabbing a boning knife from the table nearby and flicking his wrist.

Whoosh!

A cold light flashed by.

Pat.

The hemp rope was severed instantly.

Guo Shuai fell on ground heavily, clutching his neck.

"Cough cough cough!!"

After finally catching his breath, he looked up, meeting a pair of pitch-black eyes.

Jiangnan.

Just then, the Eye of Calamity that Guo Shuai had just integrated into his left eye instinctively activated on its own!

A stream of dark gold data instantly washed over Jiangnan's figure.

[Analyzing target...]

[Target: Human male]

[HP: 100%]

[Supernatural ability: None]

[Paper combat power: E-]

[Weakness: Given your current configuration, his entire body is a weakness.]

[Comprehensive evaluation: Merely an ordinary human slightly stronger than a weakling.]

[System suggestion: Estimated win rate is seven-three. Do you wish to immediately plan an auto combat scheme to kill him?]

Seeing this string of information, Guo Shuai, who was kneeling on the ground, was stunned on the spot.

His eyeballs nearly popped out.

"Huh? No supernatural ability?"

"E- combat power?"

"An ordinary human?"

Guo Shuai roared frantically in his heart, Are you kidding me? Is this broken eyeball a pirated copy?!

Who was the man in front of him?

That was the ruthless person who had just turned a boss into ash with a single finger!

The man who had lit the entire monster wheat field like a cigarette!

You're telling me he's an ordinary person?

Then I'm your dad!

And what the hell is this seven-three split!

Does this mean he kills me seven times in three seconds?!

Guo Shuai broke out in a cold sweat, terrified that this damn eyeball would actually initiate some "auto combat" for him.

Wouldn't he have died on the spot then?

"Turn it off! Quickly, turn it off!"

He forcibly used his thought to shut down the Eye of Calamity, secretly swearing to himself.

He would definitely have to find an opportunity later to see if it could be repaired; this margin of error was simply too outrageous.

Afterward, he looked at Jiangnan, who was looking down at him from above, and immediately lowered his head, not daring to look directly into those eyes at all.

"Th-thank you for saving my life."

Jiangnan paid no mind to his mental activity, merely staring quietly at the guy with his head bowed.

It was clear that the other party had developed a deep sense of fear toward him from the bottom of his heart.

Very good.

That was exactly the effect he wanted.

Jiangnan pulled a memo pad from his pocket, swish swish wrote a line, tore it off, and tossed it in front of Guo Shuai.

Then, he picked up Fite's diary from the table, turned around, and climbed up the ladder.

Guo Shuai picked up the note from the ground, trembling.

[From today on, you will live with Wang Meng and follow all of his orders.]

Seeing this sentence, a glimmer of excitement instantly erupted in Guo Shuai's eyes!

This was not just an order.

It represented... acceptance!

He had successfully joined the big boss's team!

"Thank you, boss! Guo Shuai will strictly follow your orders!"

Guo Shuai performed a fist and palm salute toward Jiangnan's back. Although the posture was a bit chuunibyou, his gaze was incomparably pious.

Back on the ground.

Wang Meng was guarding beside the car. Seeing Jiangnan come up, followed by the disheveled but bright-eyed Guo Shuai, he immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

"Big boss, is this kid alright?" Wang Meng asked with a smile.

Jiangnan nodded and walked straight toward the car door.

"Big boss, where are we going now?"

Jiangnan stopped in his tracks, turned around, and handed Wang Meng a note:

[We aren't going anywhere.]

[First, use this skin to put a protective film on the car.]

[I need to research something; don't disturb me unless it's important.]

After saying this, he tossed the magic skin to Wang Meng and got into the car with the diary.

Seeing this, Chen Tong and the other two women quickly followed.

The car door closed.

Outside the car, only the two men, Wang Meng and Guo Shuai, remained.

Wang Meng looked at the cold, human-like skin in his hands. Although it was a bit creepy, as a B-class mechanic, he could only sense the aura of top-tier material.

"Good stuff..."

Wang Meng exclaimed, then looked at Guo Shuai.

"Guo Shuai, since the boss has spoken, from now on we are brothers who share the same pair of pants."

"Is there anything you can help with?"

Guo Shuai immediately leaned in and called out very tactfully, "Brother Wang."

Hearing this "Brother Wang," Wang Meng felt wonderful inside.

In the past, he was just a social butterfly chubby kid in class, but now he had actually managed to become a minor leader.

However, he didn't get carried away. Instead, he patted Guo Shuai on the shoulder and said earnestly:

"No need. You were too harsh on yourself earlier; I heard it all."

"You still have injuries, so just keep watch for me nearby to prevent any blind monsters from coming over."

"You got it, Brother Wang! Leave it to me!"

Guo Shuai was deeply moved and immediately ran to the high ground nearby, activating his danger sense to scan the surroundings with vigilance.

On this side, Wang Meng took a deep breath and began to activate his supernatural ability.

"Mechanic, activate!"

As his supernatural ability surged within him, a silver-white wrench, brimming with a sci-fi aesthetic, appeared out of thin air in his hand.

Though it looked like a wrench, it was actually a b-class mechanic's companion artifact: the universal repairer.

It had only one ability: modification!

As long as there were materials, everything could be repaired, and everything could be modified!

Wang meng spread the massive s-class demon skin over the hood of the camper.

The wrench in his hand tapped lightly against the vehicle's body.

Ding! Ding! Ding!

A miraculous scene unfolded.

The skin, which had been incredibly tough, melted like liquid under the shroud of white light.

It then rapidly seeped into the black alloy armor.

Dark gold patterns began to emerge across the originally matte black body of the vehicle!

On the front of the car, a sinister scarecrow's grinning face faintly appeared, radiating a fear aura.

The entire process was smooth and fluid, completed in less than five minutes.

[Modification complete!]

[Acquired characteristic: fear aura (s-class)]

"Done!"

Wang meng wiped the sweat from his brow and clapped his hands in satisfaction.

Guo shuai, standing to the side, was stunned.

"So fast! Brother wang, what kind of supernatural ability is this?"

"Heh, it's just a b-class mechanic ability, nothing special," Wang meng said, waving his hand modestly.

"No wonder you became the boss's trusted aide. This ability is just too practical!"

Guo shuai exclaimed with genuine admiration.

"Yours isn't bad either, especially now that you have that a-class weird artifact."

Wang meng pointed at guo shuai's left eye.

At the mention of this, guo shuai's expression turned somewhat strange, and he gave an awkward laugh:

"Um... Brother Wang, I feel like this eyeball of mine might be a defective product, or maybe it's broken."

"Huh? Broken? How so?" Wang Meng asked curiously.

"How about... I try it out on you?" Guo Shuai asked tentatively.

"Sure, go ahead." Wang Meng stood there generously.

Guo Shuai took a deep breath and activated Eye of Calamity once again.

A dark gold data stream appeared once more.

[Target: human male]

[HP: 100%]

[Paper combat power: F+]

[Ability: B-class mechanic]

[Weakness: old leg injury, limited mobility.]

[Comprehensive evaluation: A weakling with a powerful support ability.]

[System suggestion: Estimated win rate is 90%, directly smash his dog head.]

"Uh..."

Seeing the data this time, Guo Shuai was stunned for a moment.

Although the evaluation was a bit heart-wrenching, it was significantly more reasonable this time!

It could even detect the old injury on his leg!

"Brother Wang... do you have an injury on your leg?"

Guo Shuai asked.

Wang Meng slapped his thigh: "Amazing! That's right!"

"I was fixing cars with my dad when I was a kid and got hit by a jack. Even though it healed, I've never been able to run fast since."

"Your eyes are truly incredible!"

"Whew..."

Guo Shuai breathed a sigh of relief, "Looks like it's not broken."

But since it wasn't broken...

"Then why did it show 'no supernatural ability' and 'ordinary person' when it scanned the boss just now?"

Guo Shuai felt a chill down his spine as he thought about it, then suddenly slapped his forehead.

"I've got it!!"

"It's not that the eyeball is broken! It's that the boss is too strong!"

"So strong that even an A-class weird artifact can't peek into his true strength! It can only see the most superficial layer of disguise!"

"That's right! It must be like that!"

Guo Shuai's eyes were filled with admiration: "Even the eyeball master was taken out by the boss in seconds, how could it possibly see through him?"

He shared this conjecture with Wang Meng.

After hearing it, Wang Meng was also full of shock, then nodded in deep agreement.

"As expected of the big boss! Truly unfathomable!"

And so, the two grown men sat on the barren land beside the car, beginning to wildly imagine Jiangnan's strength.

The more they talked, the more excited they became; the more they talked, the more they felt they had followed the right person, even developing a sense of revolutionary friendship as if they had met too late.

Meanwhile, inside the car.

Compared to the two fanatic fans outside the car who were busy with self-suggestion.

At this moment, Jiangnan was lying on the spacious Simmons bed, legs crossed.

One hand was wrapped around Chen Tong's slender waist, toying with that astonishing softness, while the other hand held the diary.

After carefully confirming the information he wanted—daily settlement, shelter, trial, and so on...

Jiangnan tossed it directly into the trash can.

This diary no longer had any value to him.

However...

His temper was a bit irritable right now!

Because this scarecrow had actually consumed a full 16 words of his!

That meant 16 days!

384 hours!

"Damn it..."

Jiangnan felt a surge of irritation in his heart that needed to be vented.

He pulled Chen Tong, who was in his arms, toward him and flipped over to pin her down.

"Ah!"

Chen Tong exclaimed. Looking at Jiangnan's face—which, despite the lingering heat of his anger, was still handsome enough to make her knees weak—she understood instantly what was happening.

Her face flushed like a ripe apple, her eyes grew hazy, and she obediently wrapped her arms around Jiangnan's neck.

"It... it's okay..."

"Classmate Jiangnan..."

On the other side of the cabin.

Liu Yuqing and Yu Shishi had long since noticed the commotion over there.

With a tacit understanding, the two of them huddled in the furthest corner of the sofa, pulled a blanket over their heads, and pretended to be two ostriches.

Soon.

Rhythmic shaking sounds began to echo inside the car, along with certain low moans that made one's face burn.

But because the soundproofing was excellent, those outside couldn't hear a thing.

And outside the car.

Wang Meng and Guo Shuai were still chatting heatedly, daydreaming about their future conquest of the barbaric realm.

They had no idea that their boss was currently engaged in a different kind of "intense battle."

It wasn't until the eastern sky turned a pale, fish-belly white and the sunrise appeared that this long and absurd night finally came to a hasty end.