"Sis…Sister Yuan, you are getting too close." Fang Yue was shocked by the sudden intimacy and his body froze.
"Hehe, Yue, can you teach me how to become a professional gamer?"
"Sister Yuan, I thought your job pays you quite well."
"Tsk, don't get me started about it. It's frustrating. Anyway, are you going to teach me or not?"
"Sis, if you really want to get into the business, I'll support you with my best, but I myself am not doing any better either, so…"
"Hehe, I guess you are right." Sister Yuan looked rather gloomy. She then giggled at Fang Yue and patted his cheeks with her fair hands. "I'll go dry my hair now since I'm going out later."
Sister Yuan then quickly snuck out of Fang Yue's room.
"Hold on, sis! Are you free tomorrow?"
"It depends on the occasion. Why?" Sister Yuan stuck her head out of the door.
"I made some money from the game, so I thought maybe we can go out for dinner to celebrate."
"Yay! Great!" Sister Yuan beamed happily. She looked extra cute and refreshing when she flashed her beautiful teeth. "I want to have a feast!"
"Okay!"
The date was hence decided.
After Fang Yue was done cleaning up the table and just when he wanted to go back to his room, Sister Yuan popped her head out through the doorway again. Her sudden appearance shocked Fang Yue this time.
"What's wrong, sis?"
"I forgot to tell you. When I came back just now, I saw a girl downstairs on the street asking for you with your picture in her hand. She's quite beautiful. Did you get her pregnant?"
"I'm still a vir—"
The embarrassing word almost escaped his mouth, but Fang Yue was quick enough to stop himself.
His face turned red as he stuttered, "I-I...No! I'm not! Please don't assume that!"
He pondered the question Sister Yuan raised. In Jianghai City, he only had limited acquaintances: his friends from university and his two housemates.
He lived a clean and decent private life, so why would there be a girl looking for him?
"Hehe, maybe it's your relative or a family member from your hometown."
"Unlikely. Are you sure the girl is looking for me?"
Sister Yuan put her finger on her chin and pouted. She furrowed her brows and thought about it for a while before saying, "She should be. Even though it was just the back, the white T-shirt with an apple on it is quite discernible. It's the birthday present that I got you a few months back."
Girls were usually more sensitive towards fashion, especially since Sister Yuan had picked the T-shirt herself. She would never be wrong.
'A white T-shirt with an apple icon? I wore it yesterday when I went to get the watch. The girl is here looking for me? But why?'
All of a sudden, a thought struck Fang Yue.
'The parchment! F***! Is she here for the parchment?!'
Fang Yue felt scared. 'Is the girl dangerous?'
While he was pondering about the potential danger, Sister Yuan said, "But the girl left after she asked around and still couldn't find you."
"She left? Did you tell her where I live?"
As a professional gamer, Fang Yue spent his time mostly indoors. He had barely even seen his neighbors before, let alone the people in his neighborhood.
"Of course not! Jokes aside, I wouldn't out you to some stranger. What if the girl is someone dangerous? But…are you sure you are alright? Are you in trouble?" Sister Yuan asked. The righteousness in her tone slowly turned into doubt.
"Of course not! I'm just a gamer. What kind of trouble could I get myself into?"
"Hmm, I guess you are right." Sister Yuan flipped her hair and went back into the bathroom to dry her hair.
After that, she returned to her room to change her clothes and bade him goodbye before going out.
Fang Yue was still pondering about the girl looking for him. He had no idea why a girl would be looking for him.
"Why is she looking for me? And she left just like that? Will she come back? And why would she be back?"
With that in mind, Fang Yue returned to his room and stared at the parchment for a while. However, the parchment did not react to his stare.
"Maybe I'm overthinking."
He sighed and calmed himself down. Then, he put on the watch and climbed into his bed.
After Fang Yue got back into the game, the room became quiet, and it was then that words started to appear on the parchment.
[They are here!]
[It's dangerous! I'm in danger!]
[I was so scared that I forgot to give the fool a hint…]
[I can't just sit back and do nothing. I have to give the fool some powers to make sure he is capable of protecting me!]
[Let's hope he is already strong enough in Blue Ocean. I can't make an omelet without eggs!]
[I'll bluff him to exchange his Lifespan for powers when he comes back. It should be enough to pay the cost.]
…
At Mr. Liu's office in Pingan Bounty Hunter Corp.
Bang!
The door was kicked open, and Chen Xiaomiao came in with a loud yawn.
"Mr. Liu, I'm here."
"Mm-hmm." Mr. Liu took a stack of documents out from his drawer and put them on the desk. "These are today's assignments."
"That's a mountain of them!"
The stack of documents made Chen Xiaomiao widen her eyes, and she raised her voice. "Are all analysts crippled? Have they lost their legs and gotten robotic prosthetics? That's why they run so much in a day and bring back so much work! Are they not tired? I really have to thank them!"
"It's because the analysts are good at what they do." Mr. Liu was speechless. The new girl seemed to have an attitude.
That aside, he added, "Did you investigate that matter today? Don't skip work to play games again. When I was checking on everyone, I noticed that you were surfing the game forum. You even replied to threads using the ID MiaoNaturalWay.
"Mr. Liu! You sicko! Are you spying on me?"
"It's during work hours and you are not working. Why can't I see what you are doing?"
"No way! This company denies an employee her privacy? No way! Is this really happening? Can I sue you for sexual harassment?"
"Fine, fine, fine. I won't do it again. Let's talk about work. So, did you investigate the matter today?"
Chen Xiaomiao put on a long face when Mr. Liu talked about work. "I did, I did, but there are so many targets on the list. How can I finish the investigation in a day? I even went outside for the sake of the investigation."
Mr. Liu reacted in surprise. "How was it? Got anything?"
"Nope. I just asked a random passerby. The documents I got from the analysts only state where he was around that time, so I took a look along the way."
Chen Xiaomiao looked disgusted as she continued, "The place that he's staying in is filthy! It's a cheap neighborhood. I asked some residents there, but no one knows where he's staying, so I stopped."
"Why did you stop? Everyone has to be strictly investigated!"
"I know that, but I'm working on so many targets alone. I'd have to grow three pairs of arms and two more heads just to finish them. Moreover, he's just a passerby and he was just there. The odds of us finding him is slim."
"You still have to find him. As for the manpower, I'll get more people to help you soon. The company is working on an important mission, so we are currently tight on manpower. You'll have to hold on for a few more days.
Chen Xiaomiao pouted. She was skeptical about what her superior said. All she wanted to do was leave work earlier and spare herself from Mr. Liu's nonsense. She wanted to go home to play games.
"I'll test out the theory that NightDawn mentioned in the forum about Control. Maybe I can challenge the patrol members."