The bumpy ride left Little Lin's already drowsy and muddled mind even more disoriented. By the time they arrived at Chaojiawan Village, he nearly vomited upon stepping out of the car.
The senior officer patted his shoulder and turned on the bodycam before asking the village official who came to greet them, "Where’s the suspect?"
"This way," the official replied, leading them toward the clinic next to the village committee office. "We’ve had a lot of tourists visiting the village lately, and we didn’t want to cause panic, so we’ve temporarily detained him in the clinic."
The senior officer glanced at the steady stream of tourists entering and exiting the village committee gates and nodded in understanding.
Little Lin surveyed the surroundings. It was the second day of the short holiday, and the number of visitors was indeed high. The village committee was understaffed, and locals were helping with crowd control.
The village clinic consisted of only two rooms—one for the village doctor and the other for the veterinarian.
The suspect was being held in the vet’s office. When Little Lin followed his mentor inside, his first glance wasn’t at the suspect but at the young man standing in the corner.
Dressed in a simple T-shirt and jeans, he was effortlessly striking, drawing everyone’s attention.
"Uncle Policeman, you’re finally here!" A child’s parent tightly grasped the senior officer’s hand. "This man tried to kidnap a child. Arrest him immediately!"
The thin man stared at the four uniformed officers, utterly baffled. How could police—entities that defied the logic of this rural "instance"—exist in a village where failing a mission meant being trapped?
The senior officer was used to being called "uncle" by people of all ages. He calmly opened his notepad and began documenting the case.
Seeing the officers actually investigating instead of behaving like rigid NPCs from other instances, the thin man realized he was in deep trouble.
He lowered his head, pretending to cower, as he eyed his left hand cuffed to the window railing.
I have to find a way out of this.
He rummaged through his inventory and finally found a useful S-tier item—the Amnesia Spray.
This rare and expensive item could erase NPCs’ memories of a specific event, provided it had occurred within the last two hours.
As the spray materialized in his hand from his inventory, he popped open the cap, ready to press down.
"What are you doing?" Chao Musheng had been watching him closely. The moment he saw the small metal canister appear, he kicked the man’s wrist without hesitation.
The canister clattered to the ground, startling Little Lin, who immediately drew his stun baton and jabbed it into the suspect’s side. "Suspect is assaulting an officer!"
The thin man shrieked, curling up like a boiled shrimp.
The senior officer and his two colleagues exchanged glances but said nothing. Their intern certainly had guts—charging in before even understanding the situation.
Chao Musheng bent down to inspect the canister at his feet. It bore no labels, and when he nudged it with his shoe, it felt empty.
"Leave this to us, buddy." Little Lin pulled on gloves and sealed the canister in a plastic bag.
"The villagers said you were the first to notice something off about him?" The senior officer flipped to a fresh page in his notepad as he approached Chao Musheng.
The thin man, recovering slightly, lifted his head to glare. The officer shifted to block his line of sight.
Chao Musheng nodded. "When he got off the bus yesterday, he claimed to be a programmer, but his hairline was fuller than any computer science major’s. Later, he saw the sign for ‘Descendants of Lu Ban’ and asked what the shop sold. Anyone who’s attended university in China and worked as a programmer should know who Lu Ban is."
He then recounted the events of the previous night and that morning.
"If the kid sneaking into the water last night was just a coincidence, today he deliberately sought out village children—that can’t be a misunderstanding." Chao Musheng stepped around the officer, locking eyes with the suspect’s panicked face. "Most importantly, he said he was here as a tourist but didn’t even carry a backpack. Nothing about him adds up."
"Your analysis makes sense." Little Lin’s eyes widened in realization. "Bro, you’re sharp."
"You’re not wrong," the village official chimed in proudly. "Musheng is a top student at Jinghua University—he’s even been interviewed by reporters."
"Jinghua University?!" Little Lin straightened with newfound respect. How brilliant must someone be to get into the nation’s top school?
Unable to bear his apprentice’s starstruck expression, the senior officer took a deep breath and asked Chao Musheng to accompany Little Lin for further investigation while he reviewed the village surveillance footage.
At the mention of surveillance, the thin man’s mind went numb.
Police in a rural instance? Fine. Cameras on the bus? Whatever. But surveillance in the village too?!
Since when does that fit the rules of an instance?!
Frantically, he tapped at his mission system, begging to be teleported back to the infinite space.
But no matter how many times he tried, the button remained a hopeless gray.
"Your name, age, and address." The senior officer stared at him impassively. "And your ID. If you don’t have it, recite the number."
ID number?
The thin man’s head spun. Under the officer’s piercing gaze, he seethed—at the infinite system, at this cursed exploration instance, and most of all, at that meddling pretty boy.
I don’t want to die.
After touring the village with Little Lin, who snapped photos for documentation, Chao Musheng pulled him back just as he nearly stepped into a ditch.
"Those two mountains—do they have names?" Little Lin asked, staring dazedly at the peaks behind the village.
"Not officially." Chao Musheng steadied him. "Since the reforestation policy, they’ve become wildlife territory. The trees are tall, the grass is thick—if you want to go up, you’ll need a guide."
"Nah, just curious." Little Lin removed his cap, wiping sweat from his forehead with a grimace. "Why’s it so muggy today? Is a storm coming?"
He checked his weather app. "Huh, there’s a heavy rain warning. No wonder it’s so stifling."
Heavy rain?
Chao Musheng frowned slightly and pulled out his own phone, tapping the weather app.
After a brief lag, the app flickered before displaying the forecast.
"What heavy rain warning?" Little Lin’s colleague pointed at his own screen. "Light rain from 10 PM tonight till noon tomorrow. Pretty normal for Dragon Boat Festival weather."
"Wait, what?" Little Lin refreshed his app. The storm alert had vanished, replaced by a gentle reminder to carry an umbrella if going out at night.
Did I imagine it?
"Good thing there’s no storm. The rapeseed’s ready for harvest—a downpour would ruin months of work." The colleague fanned himself with his cap. "Let’s head back to the clinic."
The three of them returned to the health station, and Chao Musheng immediately noticed that the two remaining police officers and the village cadre looked uneasy—nervous yet inexplicably excited.
"Uncle," Chao Musheng squeezed next to the village cadre. "What's going on?"
The village cadre's eyes gleamed strangely. "This man's identity is suspicious. His fingerprints don’t match any records in the database."
"What does that mean?" one of the parents leaned in. "Is he a fugitive?"
"Worse than a fugitive." Chao Musheng watched as the older officer scanned the thin man’s fingerprints over and over, the red warning light flashing repeatedly. "All adults in our country have their fingerprints recorded in the database when they apply for an ID. If this man’s fingers aren’t injured but still can’t be verified, it means he’s..."
The village cadre’s cheeks flushed with excitement. "It means he’s not from our country! He’s an unidentified spy—a walking two hundred grand bounty!"
And a glorious highlight in his own work records!
[Ding! Warning! Warning! Warning!]
[Player Skinny Monkey has been exposed by NPCs for identity irregularities. Countdown to elimination: sixty seconds.]
No way! This shouldn’t be happening!
This dungeon is abnormal, and these NPCs are even worse!
The thin man struggled desperately, knocking his glasses off his nose. They fell to the ground, the lenses shattering.
In his panic, he looked at the NPCs—blurred figures, all grinning with excitement, like butchers relishing the struggles of a New Year’s pig before slaughter.
"That skinny guy still isn’t back?" The fat man stepped into the guesthouse, holding a flyer. He avoided the surveillance camera in the living room and entered one of the players’ rooms, noticing everyone was present except the thin man.
"Don’t worry, he’s a high-ranking player who made it into the top 5,000," the lone traveler said, also holding a flyer. "I’ve been in a dungeon with him before. He pretended to be a mystic and tricked half a village of NPCs into jumping into a river to rack up kills for him. Killing a kid should be child’s play for him."
Hearing the lone traveler praise the thin man, the couple’s expressions darkened. The girlfriend sneered, "No need to hype him up so much. The NPCs in this dungeon aren’t stupid—he might trip over his own arrogance. Besides, we don’t necessarily have to kill a child..."
"Every extra day we spend in this dungeon costs us twenty health points," the lone traveler shot back. "We each only have a hundred. If we don’t escape in five days, we’re all dead."
The girlfriend clenched her jaw, silent. Her boyfriend stepped in to mediate. "We all got these flyers inviting us to tomorrow’s cultural performance. Are you all going?"
The fat man forced a bitter smile. "Do we even have a choice?"
[Ding! Player Skinny Monkey has failed the mission. Remaining players, please value your lives and stay vigilant.]
The players paled. A top 5,000 expert couldn’t even last two days in this dungeon?
Night fell. Chao Musheng played a few rounds on his phone, his luck unusually good—he won almost every match. Hearing Grandma sighing intermittently, he put his phone down and sat beside her. "Grandma, who’s bothering you? I’ll curse them out for you."
"Who’d dare?" Grandma listened to the pattering rain outside. "The village rehearsed a performance for tomorrow’s stage. People from other villages are coming to watch, and I’m afraid the weather won’t cooperate."
"Your grandma even has a role in the show. If the rain doesn’t stop tonight, I doubt she’ll sleep a wink," Grandpa gave Chao Musheng a knowing look. You know how much she loves showing off, right?
"Don’t worry, Grandma. The rain will definitely stop tonight."
After comforting her, Chao Musheng went to bed, still hoping tomorrow would bring mild, pleasant weather.
Drip. Drip.
Chao Musheng woke groggily. Where was that leaking sound coming from?
Annoyed by the noise, he forced his eyes open and saw a faucet gushing water nonstop.
What kind of jerk leaves the water running? Don’t they know conservation is everyone’s responsibility?!
He reached out and twisted the faucet. It creaked and groaned, but the water kept flowing.
Gritting his teeth, he nearly wrenched the faucet off before it let out one final screech—and the water finally stopped.
That’s more like it.
Chao Musheng lay back down, drifting off again.
No one could just stand by and watch water go to waste.
No one!
Chao Musheng: Water conservation is a virtue engraved in my bones. You’re welcome!
