Chapter 45: Chapter 16. Something Feels Off

Apart from the commotion at the martial arts school last year, those old fellows know how to observe the rules, so things have been mostly peaceful overall. However, there are always some arrogant young people who want to stir up trouble. This time, he stepped right on Lord Wei's landmine, and the old penguin will let him off even less.

The Rat King stroked his beard, grabbed Uncle Dong's arm, and said, "The old folks' reminiscing is over. Don't keep the youngsters waiting too long."

"Go slowly. My legs aren't nimble like yours; I don't go out for morning jogs every day."

The Rat King grinned. "If your legs aren't nimble, why are you still riding a tricycle? I'll have one of my lads deliver the goods for you another day."

"I've got old bones. I need to move them."

Unable to out-stubborn the Rat King, Uncle Dong raised the white flag first.

In the courtyard, Zhou Jinru was intently studying the sanity system. "System" was just a generalized term; this thing wasn't actually a system at all, and it didn't go *ding-ding-ding* to issue quests. Otherwise, why would he feel like he was twiddling his thumbs all day long?

"The functions of sanity are only twofold: first, to offset the damage caused by Originium—no matter how much sanity I lose, I don't feel a thing; second, to forcibly concentrate my mind after consuming 30 points, leaving me extremely exhausted once the duration ends."

Upon careful reflection, Zhou Jinru slapped his thigh. Sanity didn't provide him with any substantive benefits; at best, it allowed him to run into high-risk zones as a human shield, only to die inside once his sanity ran dry.

The only decent thing left was the talent for emotional guidance, but it could only be used to guide the emotions of people around him and steer the narrative. It wasn't omnipotent either, as the Rat King had detected his probing and instantly countered it on the spot.

"What is that?"

He looked at the liquid-like substance that had appeared inside the round faces representing the four basic emotions. The emerald-green face of joy was glowing brightly.

"Unlock the elite promotion process after collecting the four basic emotions."

There was nothing below that.

Having inadvertently completed the collection of one of the emotions, Zhou Jinru fell into deep thought. That must have been accomplished during last year's concert last night. Unfortunately, he had been too busy dealing with the angry Red to notice anything amiss at the time.

Raising his head, he happened to see the Rat King and Uncle Dong walking out of the main hall one after the other. He collected his thoughts. This talent belonged to a form of Originium Arts; the fact that the Rat King could perceive it meant the latter's strength was unimaginably formidable.

At this thought, he paused for a fraction of a second. On the night he provided backup to Beagle, he had similarly perceived someone hiding in the dark, and that person had discovered him at almost the exact same moment. Yet, back at the wasteland settlement, Misha, who had hidden in advance, failed to notice him; otherwise, she should have fled the scene immediately.

While he was lost in thought, the Rat King's small eyes scanned Zhou Jinru up and down. "Qin An is rather slick. He had an ambiguous relationship with Liu Li not long ago, making a huge fuss over nothing, only for it to turn out to be completely groundless. Now this A-Guang is also brought in by him. Let's ask where he wants to go, and simply send him on his way. If he doesn't want to leave, that's fine too—I'll invite him out for tea."

Uncle Dong was startled and hurriedly advised, "A VIP seat at the bottom of Wolong Bay? Qin An is Qin Nianyi's nephew after all, and that Chief Chen is on quite close terms with his senior apprentice. Besides, the second-in-command, Hoshiguma, also came from his faction. Aren't you afraid the L.G.D. will have opinions about you?"

"Where is your mind wandering?"

The Rat King's cane tapped lightly against the ground. "When he first met me, he tried to probe me. I'm inclined to believe he might just have been momentarily curious, but there's an old Yan saying: 'He who holds a sharp weapon develops a murderous intent.' You and I have seen far too many people like this. The smart ones learn to behave after taking a loss once, while the foolish ones have already been tossed into Wolong Bay to feed the fish."

"Originium Arts related to mental perception have always been monopolized by the Sarkaz. They've grown stronger because of it, but also more fragile. Confidence and arrogance go hand in hand, and right behind arrogance follows death. I hope this Mr. A-Guang is a smart man."

Uncle Dong shook his head. "Lin, you're being too serious. What if A-Guang intends to leave? What do you plan to do? The L.G.D. has sealed off the roads from the Outer Ring to the inner city, and they won't reopen anytime soon."

"If he wants to leave, I can send him away. Sending someone out of the Outer Ring is all too easy."

Seemingly recalling something, Uncle Dong stopped in his tracks. "That vehicle?"

The Rat King corrected him, "A bus."

He urged Uncle Dong toward the kitchen. "Let's go. I want to eat the fish balls you make. Noon is precious, and I still need to reserve half an hour for my nap."

The two of them walked toward the kitchen one after the other. As soon as they stepped inside, they saw a full-scale brawl in progress: Waai Fu had Gummy's arm twisted behind her back, pinning him down onto the cutting board, while Gummy cried out at the top of his lungs for help.

"Such a heroine, your dish is burning."

The Rat King stood at the doorway, clapping his hands and watching the two inside with a deadpan expression.

Waai Fu released her grip. "He said my old man is fierce!"

"If your old man weren't fierce, how could you be here?"

Uncle Dong muttered as he limped further inside, picking up a kettle to pour water into the wok. A pungent, unpleasant odor drifted from the pot, causing several of them to cough repeatedly.

Gummy rubbed his arm, grabbed a nearby cup of water to take a sip, and immediately spat it right back out.

"Why is there sand in the cup?"

"Who knows? It might be too dry these days with all the blowing sand."

Uncle Dong brushed it off with a casual remark, turned around, and opened the refrigerator to peer inside. "There are still the fish balls I made last night."

The Rat King remained unfazed. "Alright, anything you make is good."

"Alright, all of you out. The kitchen's too crowded. Go chat with Mr. A-Guang; don't leave the guest hanging—he's about to be dried into a shiitake mushroom."

Uncle Dong issued an eviction order, and Gummy dragged himself out of the kitchen with a bitter expression. He was terrible at dealing with strangers.

...

"...Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river, do not bully a young man into poverty!"

Zhou Jinru's mouth was parched from talking. Gummy subconsciously handed over a cup of water, and Zhou Jinru, paying it no mind, took a gulp—only to be choked by the sand until tears nearly welled up in his eyes.

"Did you just emerge from the desert?"

Zhou Jinru muttered as he rinsed his mouth, but Gummy didn't hear a word, still completely immersed in the story he had just heard.

"Mr. A-Guang, what happened to Xiao Yan later on? This is a matter of dignity. Even though doing this let him vent his anger temporarily, wouldn't he be at a disadvantage in the long run?"

Waai Fu frowned from the side. "Isn't it improper for the Nalan family to handle it that way? Breaking off an engagement can completely be done in private, with some extra compensation given. The Xiao family wouldn't have disagreed; at least things wouldn't have turned out this bitter."

Zhou Jinru wrung his brains. He had forgotten most of the plots of the web novels he used to read, but the engagement-breaking trope was the one that stuck with him the most. He hadn't expected that the formula of a satisfying face-slapping web novel wasn't just beloved by readers—even people from another world were willing to swallow it hook, line, and sinker, ensuring steady readership and soaring popularity. No wonder a wildly successful web novel could make an author filthy rich and even change their destiny.

He remembered when his web-writer college roommate received his first royalty payment and generously treated everyone to a meal, complaining that web authors' royalties were actually taxed as accidental income, with the threshold starting at a mere 800 yuan.

"Gummy, I heard you dropped out of school and have been helping Uncle Dong manage his fish ball stall, is that right?"

Zhou Jinru guided him step-by-step. "I see you have the aptitude for it. Why not change your destiny through your own hard work?"

How did those motivational soup articles go again?

He said with a solemn expression, "I've read some novels—pirated books shipped out from Longmen. Their writing is naive, the plots dry, and those authors simply don't understand the essence of a novel."

On Amiya's desk, there was only a single romance novel, and an unfinished one at that. It was very likely the author had already "self-executed and retreated to the palace" (abandoned the story).

A fifteen-year-old girl daydreaming of romance was something he could completely understand. At the same time, he noticed that Terra's literary development was quite backward. They possessed a somewhat advanced, albeit skewed, level of science and technology—the internet and communications were both handled quite well. Therefore, for the spiritual welfare of the broad masses of Terra, he indeed had a duty to do this.

People of Terra, behold! This is the blessing I bestow upon you.

Zhou Jinru said earnestly, "Don't think of this as a trifle. A story that lifts people's spirits can play an inspiring role, especially in the Outer Ring. You certainly know more about that than I do. Don't belittle yourself at a time like this; go do what you believe is right. You're an adult now, and you surely have your own ideas."

Gummy stammered, "A-Guang, do you mean... No, I can't do it. My abilities are limited, I..."

"If Xiao Yan had been as timid and wishy-washy as you, he would never have made his counterattack!"

Zhou Jinru felt like a missionary who had escaped from a psychiatric asylum, frantically instilling ideas into others. "If you've never done it, how do you know you can't? Thirty years east of the river, thirty years west of the river..."

Gummy's throat moved heavily. The look he cast at Zhou Jinru was filled with burning passion. "Do not bully a young man into poverty?"

"Do not bully a young man into poverty."

Zhou Jinru suddenly felt a pang of regret. He couldn't tell whether it had been a momentary whim or a premeditated scheme—did this count as poisoning the mind of a fine, upstanding youth?

Yet his abilities were limited, and what he could do was exceedingly minimal; he couldn't change the macro-environment.

What kind of environment was Terra?

Natural disasters, Originium arts-induced diseases, and wars.

He had never romanticized mobile cities. They were merely overloaded RVs, crammed with people desperately trying to cling to life, with death snapping relentlessly at their heels.

No matter how they patched it up, the car would eventually break down one day. The passengers would mostly leap from the vehicle at the very last moment to fight for survival and squeeze out one extra second of life, but the process of waiting for death would crush the wills of most. They wouldn't even wait for that next moment—who could guarantee whether they'd be saved then?

He still had plenty of trump cards in his hands; they could talk about that later.

Zhou Jinru heavily patted Gummy's shoulder, looked at the passionate, wildly excited youth, and smiled with satisfaction. "Keep it up. From now on, you'll be the founding patriarch of a whole new school of thought."

Waai Fu stared at the two men foolishly grinning from ear to ear. She always felt something had gone terribly off course—something felt deeply wrong.

Today, he planted a seed, hoping to live to see the day it bore fruit. Though the mere thought of Amiya staring at her phone reading web novels all day gave him a massive headache, by then, he would surely have his revenge.

"Amiya, you can't rest yet; there's still plenty of work."

"Amiya, you're daydreaming and giggling again. Stop reading novels, you're about to be sucked right into the phone."

"Amiya, your smile is truly lovely..."