"Hu Liena, you..."
Bibi Dong was just about to turn into a stern teacher when a sudden burst of pink light from the chat group panel dazzled her.
[Congratulations to group member Xiao Wu on completing her Exclusive Mission and earning exclusive rewards. Display them?] [Displaying them will double your Fortune points.] [Xiao Wu (Soft Boned Rabbit): Display.] [Congratulations to Xiao Wu on receiving the Pure Enhancement Title—Soft Boned Rabbit · Bronze (reduces the cost of all Soul Skills by 10%, reduces Soul Skill activation time by 10%, and increases Soul Skill effects by 10%. Can be upgraded by completing Title Missions.)] Presence Concealment Device (conceals the presence of a transformed Soul Beast) One opportunity to purchase any item priced below 5,000 Fortune points in the chat group shop at 50% off (one use only) 500 Fortune points × 2]
The women: ?
[Group member Xiao Wu has received 1,000 Fortune points. They have been synced to the host's balance.] [The host may select one additional reward from Xiao Wu's exclusive rewards, excluding the title (・ω・)つ.]
Lu Chen: ?
Was she relying on the rule that group members couldn't maliciously endanger one another's safety, and no longer even hiding her identity as a Soul Beast?
Or was it simply for the doubled Fortune points?
The Presence Concealment Device was undoubtedly a divine treasure for Xiao Wu as she was now, because it could help Xiao Wu completely conceal the presence of a transformed Soul Beast, preventing Soul Masters of Soul Douluo rank or above from detecting her identity.
Lu Chen had actually found it rather strange. Given the hook he had left in the notebook earlier, Xiao Wu should have been the one most eager to explore the truth and the chat group's functions.
Yet aside from popping up in the group at the beginning and asking a few questions, she had made no further moves at all.
In the end, the chat group had nearly turned into a gathering to denounce Gangzi.
After all that silence, it turned out she had gone off to complete her Exclusive Mission.
Xiao Wu, well done. Very well done!
"I choose the 50%-off shop purchase opportunity."
[The host has received one opportunity to purchase any item priced below 5,000 Fortune points in the chat group shop at 50% off (one use only).]
Watching the 1,000 Fortune points come in and his balance rise to 2,500, with a half-price purchase opportunity thrown in, Lu Chen couldn't stop the corners of his mouth from lifting.
At the same time, he was a little curious about just what sort of quest she could have completed so quickly.
Had even two hours passed since Xiao Wu first spoke?
The system intelligence had definitely harbored a bit of a mischievous streak before it dissipated. For example, Lu Chen couldn't view the contents of group members' Exclusive Missions before they completed them.
The same applied to a handful of more unusual quests.
According to the information the intelligence had left before dissipating, it was worried Lu Chen would turn into a heartless quest-pushing machine to sync quest rewards, leading him to make the wrong choices.
Having wandered Blue Star for a time, the system intelligence had seen far too many cases of downtrodden people rising overnight and deciding they no longer ate beef. Its ultimate goal wasn't to create a second Tang God King, either.
Lu Chen expressed his understanding.
Both light and human, after all~
Besides, there were two ways to solve this problem.
First, group members could voluntarily reveal their quest details. However, considering that everyone had only just joined the group and didn't trust one another, this was unlikely to happen early on.
The second was simple: Lu Chen could directly consult completed special quests to satisfy his appetite for gossip.
[Xiao Wu's Exclusive Mission: Go to Dragon Soul Village and reach the village chief's residence.]
What was that?
How strange. Better take another look.
Knock, knock, knock~
"Is anyone there?"
A girl's clear voice rang out. Lu Chen pushed open his window and looked outside. The light was already on in his grandfather's room.
"System Sis, you deserve to die!"
[(๑・́₃・̀๑)]
Lu Yun had already come out of his room and called softly toward Lu Chen's room:
"Xiao Chen, are you asleep?"
With no time to keep squabbling with System Sis, Lu Chen sighed and resignedly stepped out of his room, a suitably measured trace of confusion on his face as he asked:
"Not yet, Grandpa. Who's here?"
"Not someone from the village," Lu Yun said, shaking his head.
The old man's memory was good. At the very least, there was no girl in Dragon Soul Village with such a clear, pleasant voice.
A young girl from outside the village had come knocking at his residence in the dead of night.
There was something strange about this, no matter how he looked at it.
At that thought, Lu Yun remained ready to release his Martial Soul at any moment and warned, "Be careful. I'll get the door."
"Okay."
Lu Chen nodded, thoughts racing through his mind as the gravity in his eyes deepened.
Reaching Nuoding City from the Star Dou Great Forest required crossing the entire Balak Kingdom, a considerable distance.
According to the original worldline, Xiao Wu wouldn't appear at Nuoding Junior Soul Master Academy for another three months, so Lu Chen had subconsciously assumed she might still be on the road, or hadn't even set out yet.
Yet now she had appeared right here in Dragon Soul Village...
Either she hadn't been far from Nuoding City to begin with, allowing her to quickly reach nearby Dragon Soul Village after seeing her Exclusive Mission.
Or something very fast had served as her transportation!
At this thought, Lu Chen immediately opened the system shop (which was separate from the chat group shop).
"System Sis, buy the Live Point Map."
Lu Chen didn't use his 50%-off privilege. Since it could halve the price of any item below 5,000 Fortune points, he naturally couldn't waste it on a 1,000-point item.
[1,000 Fortune points deducted (๑•̀ㅂ•́)و✧] [The Live Point Map has been placed in System Space.] [Your balance is 1,500 Fortune points.] [The Live Point Map can be taken out for use or used directly within System Space.]
Pulling a map out of thin air in front of the old man would be testing his ability to take a shock a little too much, so Lu Chen chose to use it directly within System Space.
He clicked the search bar with his mind and entered:
"Xiao Wu, transformed hundred-thousand-year soft bone rabbit."
"Er Ming, hundred-thousand-year Titan Giant Ape."
"Da Ming, hundred-thousand-year Sky Azure Bull Python."
"Search!"
[Three targets successfully displayed. Mark them? Once marked, the targets will remain visible on the Live Point Map, and you will not need to search again the next time you open it.]
"Mark them."
[Marked. Targets remain on display.]
At that moment, the pink dot representing Xiao Wu was just outside the residence, while an earthy-yellow dot sat in the mountains a short distance from Dragon Soul Village.
From that direction, Holy Soul Village was perfectly visible. The Titan Giant Ape really was nearby!
As for Da Ming, Lu Chen glanced at the cyan dot far, far from his own location. He was evidently in the Star Dou Great Forest, "minding the door" for those Ferocious Beasts hopelessly addicted to sucking silkworms (the Sky Azure Bull Python and Titan Giant Ape themselves knew nothing of this).
With a creak, Lu Yun cautiously opened the front door a crack. Through the gap, he could see a little girl standing all alone outside, as exquisitely sculpted as carved jade.
She had a fair, rosy, adorable face and wore a simple but neat pink dress. Her long scorpion braid hung past her hips, swaying in the night breeze, full of life.
The adorable little girl kept blinking her sparkling black eyes as she looked him over.
Her eyes held three parts playfulness, three parts curiosity, three parts vulnerability, and one part fear.
Even knowing her arrival was strange, Lu Yun couldn't help feeling a trace of affection well up from the bottom of his heart.
Unfortunately, old Mr. Lu had never surfed the web on Blue Star. Otherwise, he would have known there was a very fitting term for Xiao Wu's behavior:
Acting cute.
A good first impression was very important in social situations. With her outstanding character model, Xiao Wu had clearly done well in that regard, so even the old man's questioning tone softened considerably:
"Little girl, don't be scared. Tell Grandpa, who are you? What brings you to Grandpa's house at night? Where are your grown-ups?"
"Kiddo, I'm not scared. I'm a transformed hundred-thousand-year Soul Beast, and I've come to squeeze some gold coins out of you. I don't have any grown-ups, but I do have a little underling with exceptionally developed pecs squatting on the nearby mountain, watching you."
With wicked amusement, Lu Chen supplied Xiao Wu's answer in his mind.
Though she didn't have much in the way of brains, Xiao Wu wasn't quite that ridiculous. Instead, she chose a lie that showed considerable ambition and career drive.
She said she was an orphan with neither father nor mother and had awakened a Martial Soul with innate full Soul Power in a nearby village. But someone with connections there had taken her Work-Study Student place at the junior Soul Master Academy. Having heard Dragon Soul Village was a large village, she thought it might have more places available, so she had come to try her luck.
Lu Chen after hearing this: ...
That answer wasn't much better!
Do you think my grandpa is a complete idiot?
Couldn't you at least have asked in the chat group and pooled everyone's ideas before knocking?
Never mind how an orphan traveling a long distance all alone managed to have such a clean, tidy little dress.
You're saying that, as a genius orphan who awakened innate full Soul Power, you weren't directly invited to join Spirit Hall by the Spirit Hall deacon who performed your awakening ceremony, but instead had to compete with someone with connections in the village for a Work-Study Student place at a junior Soul Master Academy—and actually suffered the humiliation of losing?
For crying out loud, do you dare give me the names of that Spirit Hall deacon and that village chief?
This was an outrage against heaven!!!
Before you continue