The night was quiet. Even amid the chaos just moments earlier, Sheng Ziyao had kept a portion of his attention off the monster, cutting through the distractions around him to settle on the young man standing nearby.
The roars, struggles, and even eerie screams had failed to earn so much as a glance from the stunning beauty.
A sudden night breeze swept past, brushing the stray hair away from the beauty's forehead and making Sheng Ziyao shiver.
He had only been curious about him in the first place. He had never intended to take that S-rank Card from the young man. After all, even his boss had failed; he had better not get any ideas himself.
Time to get out of here.
If I stay any longer, I might actually get bundled up and sold.
Shen Ru looked at the monster lying on the ground, its head severed from its body, and a smile returned to his eyes.
Carrying the heavy iron rod, he slowly approached the monster. A chill seeped into his dark red eyes, and his formerly gentle, soft demeanor turned unruly in an instant.
The iron rod punched into the monster's skull, chest, and spine, blow after blow. Blood splattered across his striking, unrestrained face, but Shen Ru's expression never changed.
Only when the thing had been reduced to a filthy, pulpy mess did he finally curl his lips in satisfaction and casually toss the rod aside.
"Get unloading."
At his command, the obedient NPCs and the thoroughly terrified Players hurried to carry the Human-Skin Masks from the truck into the store. Cheng Lin even broke into a jog, afraid that if Shen Ru was displeased, he might smash his head in while he was at it.
Shen Ru looked at Chihuahua sitting on the ground and raised an eyebrow. "Aren't you helping?"
Sheng Ziyao felt as though he were back in a middle or high school classroom. The panic of zoning out at his desk only to be caught by his homeroom teacher rushed straight to his head.
He swallowed and stiffly turned toward the young man. "N-no, I think I'll pass. I'm leaving right now!!!"
Amusement flickered in Shen Ru's eyes as he asked, seemingly puzzled, "Leaving already?"
Sheng Ziyao scratched his head sheepishly. "We'll definitely see each other again once this Instance ends, anyway!"
Chihuahua had a powerful gut feeling that if he did not leave now, he would be in serious trouble.
Shen Ru seemed a little disappointed. He bent forward slightly and gently stroked the boy's golden curls with his fingertips, the corners of his eyes lifting. There was nothing remotely improper about the gesture, yet it exuded an inexplicable sensuality and wantonness.
The young man ended the suggestive atmosphere with a single remark:
"If only Sheng Ziyao were an employee at our store!"
Suddenly.
Every Player in the Instance heard the system's icy announcement ring out in their ears:
"Attention! Player Sheng Ziyao has been detected illegally interfering with the Instance. Erasure will now commence." "Countdown: 10 seconds."
Shen Ru did not know what method of Erasure the system would use, but judging from the boy's look of impending disaster, he guessed Chihuahua must really like this parting gift.
In the livestream chat:
[And here I was wondering why wifey asked his name. Since when was he that nosy... turns out he had something up his sleeve!]
[Hahahaha, we told you not to come. Even your boss got nothing out of it. Poor kid hahahahaha.]
[He'll probably lose a bunch more A-rank items. At least this is a newcomer instance, so he should be okay.]
[I'm dying. You could literally see the kid freeze when the system announcement came on.]
Shen Ru blinked innocently, as though the system announcement had startled him:
"You really don't have to rush off. After all, this Instance will be over after tomorrow."
Countdown: 5 seconds.
"Still, thank you for your help. Remember to give Mo Yu my regards once you're out, and tell him not to forget to come find me."
Countdown: 2 seconds.
Shen Ru said nothing more. He simply smiled at the boy, parting his rosy lips slightly to mouth a word at the flustered puppy about to leave the Instance:
Bye-bye.
The countdown reached zero.
"Player Sheng Ziyao has been detected exiting the game. The system has determined that removal was successful. All remaining Players, please keep up the good work."
Thanks to the supplier, every mask had been individually packaged, so none had been damaged during unloading.
Ms. Black Goldfish kept her word as well, putting even more effort into promoting the products the next day.
In the end, they successfully completed the positive-review task before closing.
Once the task was submitted, the system's voice echoed in everyone's ears.
"Ding. Players in the Good Review Convenience Store Instance have successfully collected 500 positive reviews. The Exit Portal is now opening." "Post-game rating will begin shortly. Teleportation will commence in 10 seconds."
Shen Ru had no particular thoughts about his teammates. He lounged in a chair, quietly waiting to be teleported.
He had already figured out the types of Instances in this game, roughly how often he would have to enter them, and how the livestreams worked. Judging by how much Mo Yu and the others cared about Cards, though, the game's rewards seemed promising too.
He had managed to cut a seven-day task in half. That alone ought to improve his rating a little.
As he pondered this, the entire Instance began to collapse and shatter.
In the blink of an eye, Shen Ru was teleported into a spacious room. A fluffy carpet covered the floor, with an armchair set in the center. To its left stood a small table built from white crystal, topped with delicate pastries and drinks.
Shen Ru felt no need to stand on ceremony. He nestled comfortably into the armchair, half-closing his eyes as he waited for the system to announce his post-game rating.
"Player Shen Ru has successfully cleared the newcomer instance: Good Review Convenience Store. Settlement will now begin." "Newcomer instance completion reward: 2,000." "Outstanding performance detected within the Instance. Additional reward: 3,000." "Livestream viewer tips: 1,000. Reward issued after the platform's commission: 500." "Total Points: 5,500." "Instance rewards will now be announced: the Player successfully persuaded an Instance NPC to help improve store sales, earning the C-rank Card, Black Goldfish." "Using this Card allows you to breathe freely underwater for 30 minutes." "Helped an Instance NPC find his missing feet, earning the S-rank Card, The Missing Feet." "The Player has been detected obtaining labor through deception within the Instance. Final overall rank has been raised from D to B."
Shen Ru did not particularly care about his rank, nor did he have much of an opinion on it. He was simply curious about everything here and had plenty of questions he wanted to ask.
"System?"
"Hello."
The icy voice answered immediately.
"What extra features does B-rank have compared with D-rank?"
Obviously, the Instances would become higher-ranked, and the Points awarded would increase accordingly. Beyond that, however, Shen Ru was more curious about whether there were any additional features.
"Livestreaming will activate automatically when B-rank Players enter an Instance. Streams and replays are public by default. The shop feature will also become available, allowing you to purchase items according to your needs."
The young man nodded and said nothing more.
In the Market Square of the Living Area, an enormous Light Brain projection shone in the center of the bustling plaza.
A fresh round of rankings scrolled across it, updating once again.
"Wow, I get so nervous every time this happens. I'm always worried some dark horse will suddenly show up and upset the usual order."
"Relax. Out of tens of millions of us, we've only had one Mo Yu. Where would a second lunatic come from?"
The rankings refreshed starting from the lowest rank, then moved upward in order.
There were hardly any changes in the D- and C-rank standings. The veterans who consistently held the top spots were generally seasoned old hands, and few people could easily disrupt the established order.
The B-rank standings kept scrolling until an unfamiliar set of characters appeared among the top names. When the unheard-of name Shen Ru slowly emerged in first place on the B-group display, someone in the crowd cried out in disbelief.
"Look! The B-group rankings changed!"
"Holy shit, they really did! Who is this guy? Does anyone have his livestream replays??"
"No. I went through the C- and B-rank livestream lists, and there isn't a single person called Shen Ru. Not even someone with the same fucking name!!"
"What??? A newcomer!?"
List every possibility, eliminate everything impossible, and whatever remained had to be the answer.
Shen Ru was a newcomer.
At that moment, it was as though someone had pressed pause on the bustling plaza. Everyone stared at the B-rank standings in shock, as if something had occurred to them.
"If I remember right, didn't Mo Yu jump two ranks to B when he was a newcomer too?"
"Then wouldn't this newcomer's abilities be terrifying?"
What did it mean for a newcomer to earn the system's recognition, leap through the ranks, and take first place on the leaderboard?
At the very least, since the game's inception, Mo Yu had been the only person to accomplish it.
Because this game was absolutely fair, without the slightest favoritism, everyone's first reaction was to marvel at this newcomer's astonishing abilities rather than suspect an error in the system's judgment.
"Are things about to get shaken up?"
No one knew, but the name Shen Ru was undeniably emblazoned on the display, claiming the top spot in the B-rank section.
Before you continue