The Secret Cultivator's expression grew grave, with a hint of shock that things were slipping out of his control.
She thought for a moment, copied down the new member Honey Pot's account number, and made a phone call.
"Come in for a moment."
Soon, a woman entered the room. She wore a business suit and glasses. When she came before the Secret Cultivator, she asked respectfully, "Miss, did you need me?"
The Secret Cultivator nodded and handed her the number. "Contact the service provider. I want all his information within half an hour."
"Of course..."
As her employer's assistant, the woman was clever enough to know what she should ask and what she shouldn't. She took the note and respectfully left.
The room was spacious, with a living room of over a hundred square meters. A huge glass window opened onto the balcony, and from the building's top floor, a hundred meters above the ground, the entire city's nighttime splendor lay in view.
The Secret Cultivator looked down at the neon lights along the streets. Her gaze suddenly sharpened.
"Even the Realm of Attilus can't see through Honey Pot's identity. That's not something an ordinary World of Weirdness player could do. There can't be many people like that in the Bureau of Occult Investigation."
"What exactly is his purpose in joining the Secret Cultivator Society?"
"Is it just to learn secrets about the World of Weirdness...? No, it can't be that simple."
"Could his target..."
"Be me?"
A mocking smile appeared on the Secret Cultivator's beautiful, aloof face. "How interesting. What a shame, Honey Pot. You're still too naive. The power you gain in the World of Weirdness isn't everything. And we're not in Ancient Earth. Even if you've obtained an item that can defend against the Mirror of Attilus, I only need to make one phone call to find you in the national database."
There was still some time before the half hour was up. The Secret Cultivator left the window and settled back into her rocking chair.
Keeping Honey Pot around might prove more valuable. After staring thoughtfully at the screen for a long while, the Secret Cultivator finally gave up on the idea of eliminating him.
The reason was simple.
Honey Pot didn't know who she was. On the contrary, once she found his information, she could keep him under close surveillance. He might come in handy someday.
Honey Pot was merely a tool.
Every member of the Secret Cultivator Society was a tool.
That was how the Secret Cultivator saw things.
Soon, half an hour passed. The Secret Cultivator frowned, displeased. She had given her assistant half an hour, but under normal circumstances, the results should have come in about ten minutes.
Just then, the door opened, and her assistant hurried inside. The shock on her face hadn't even faded.
"Miss..."
"How did the investigation go?"
Seeing the assistant's expression, the Secret Cultivator had a bad feeling. The woman had worked for her for several years; she knew her abilities, methods, and temperament well. If she looked like this, things were worse than expected.
The assistant took a deep breath. "Miss, this is so strange. I sent the account number you gave me to the software providers, big data companies, and every other investigative channel. They did find this person, but they couldn't retrieve his information from their databases. If they typed it into a computer document, it would automatically delete itself after a second or two. If they wrote it down by hand, the words would mysteriously disappear. And as soon as they left the database, the information about him in their minds would quickly grow hazy until they couldn't remember it at all. It's as if some invisible force is stopping us from finding him."
"Miss..."
"I've never encountered anything this bizarre before."
The Secret Cultivator could no longer maintain her cool composure. Her graceful figure trembled faintly.
She hadn't expected Honey Pot's methods to go beyond merely concealing his identity and shielding it from supernatural detection. He had influenced the entire country, perhaps even the whole world, to achieve the result that no one could find him.
This was no longer simply an ability.
It was the nascent power of an Authority.
The Secret Cultivator waved her assistant away. Though she tried to remain calm, her hand still trembled as she lifted her wineglass.
She had thought the new member Honey Pot was just another little lamb in her flock, easy to manipulate. She hadn't expected a hungry wolf to barge in—terrifying, mysterious, unknown, and impossible to predict...
The Secret Cultivator felt an urge to send Honey Pot a private message and ask who he really was and why he had joined the Secret Cultivator Society.
But after hesitating again and again, reason won out.
To say anything now would be to tell Honey Pot that she had investigated his real identity. It would be tantamount to tearing off the mask.
She had also considered kicking him out of the group, but eventually abandoned that idea. If the mysterious Honey Pot really was targeting her, keeping him in the group would at least let her learn what he was up to. It also gave them a way to stay in contact and communicate.
If she kicked Honey Pot out, she'd be completely in the dark about the mysterious man's interest in her.
"What exactly do you want from me?"
The Secret Cultivator's tall, slender figure trembled, and her brows drew together slightly. She was wary and uneasy at the thought of being watched by the mysterious Honey Pot.
Elsewhere, at home.
Yang Qizhou had no idea that simply joining a group had cast such a deep shadow over the Secret Cultivator. If he'd known, he would have laughed until his stomach hurt. He might even have said to her:
"Come on, I've only been playing World of Weirdness for three days. Sure, I've gotten a lot of items, including more than one quasi-legendary item, but I don't know much about the secrets of Ancient Earth. Isn't it normal to find a way to learn more?"
"The Earth would keep turning without you, Secret Cultivator. Don't make yourself the center of the story."
After exchanging a few more pleasantries with the group leader, the Secret Cultivator, he ended their private chat. Seeing that no one in the group was talking, he closed the interface.
So that was how it worked. Using World of Weirdness items too often in the real world could bring them to life. They might transform into Old Day Items, or lead to even more terrifying consequences.
How did the Secret Cultivator know that?
There was too much to think about; his brain was overloaded. Yang Qizhou couldn't sort it all out at once, so he decided to set it aside for now and finish the duck snacks and five liters of cola first. He'd think about it after filling his stomach.
"Wait, where are my duck snacks?"
Yang Qizhou stared at the coffee table, eyes wide. He clearly remembered putting the cola and duck snacks there. He'd even glanced over at them now and then while chatting. How had they disappeared in the time it took him to look away?
Had a ghost taken them?
"Wait, there's a ghost right next to me..." Yang Qizhou realized something. He reached out and pulled out a garment as thin as a veil.
The Garment of the Hidden World...
Side effect: It will randomly "erase" things around its holder, and the value of what it erases will increase over time. When there is nothing worth "erasing" around the holder, it will erase the holder themselves.
"So you're the culprit. My dinner..."
Before you continue