Chapter 33: The Club

There was no one on the desolate street. The moon hung high overhead, its water-like moonlight spilling onto the road alongside the soft glow of the streetlamps, illuminating the back of the adult ahead. Aloof and arrogant, like the mysterious epiphyllum flower, blooming just this once.

Wei Yunmo followed behind, watching silently, his steps growing lighter and brisker, the joy in his heart almost impossible to conceal.

"Had that much fun?" Xie De's voice was very cold.

Wei Yunmo apologized practicedly, saying aggrievedly, "I'm sorry, I know I was wrong. I shouldn't have stayed out so late without coming home. I was just too playful. This is my first time interacting with people my own age. Before this, I could only stay in the laboratory. They didn't allow me to go out."

Why did these words make it sound like he was being too harsh?

Xie De raised an eyebrow, thinking speechlessly.

If I'm seen as the bad guy, then so be it. Who told the villain to be a ticking time bomb? Anyway, there's no way I could let the villain stay in a normal person's home.

"No next time."

"Okay."

Wei Yunmo answered obediently.

Xie De thought for a moment, "You must be back before 6 PM."

"Okay."

This agreement came too quickly. Feeling like the villain was plotting some conspiracy, Xie De turned around and gave him a suspicious look. But Wei Yunmo was currently just a small figure, looking exceptionally innocent and pitiful.

Maybe he was overthinking it.

Xie De continued walking forward. He had completely exhausted his physical strength today. Gibberish had arranged for him to practice marksmanship and movement techniques all day. Every single bullet had to be strictly budgeted, leaving him incredibly tired. He wanted to go back early and go to sleep early.

Wei Yunmo trotted happily behind him, a small smile hanging on his face.

The night breeze blew slowly. Wei Yunmo felt that at this moment, he was just like an ordinary child. Without needing to worry about the laboratory's pursuit and capture, he only needed to follow the back of the person in front of him to attain stability and warmth.

But similarly, the night breeze also blew away some of the gunpowder scent from the bullets on the person ahead. Wei Yunmo snapped back to reality, the smile on his face diminishing slightly, as if he had been knocked back to square one.

He knew perfectly well in his heart that the person before him was not his guardian, nor was he an ordinary person.

If the person before him knew his thoughts, he would definitely be mocked.

Mr. 39 seemed to never yearn for warmth, nor could he ever belong to the ordinary. He was a powerhouse of the Inner World as Wei Yunmo knew it, with danger forever wrapped around him. The mysterious eagle would not pause for a mediocre lamb, unless that lamb possessed utilitarian value.

He understood that he was just one of Xie De's jobs and would be sent away sooner or later.

To actually be moved tonight by Mr. 39's meticulous work attitude was truly a ridiculous mindset.

Back at home.

The villain returned to his room listlessly, looking like a cabbage struck by frost, completely wilted.

He was like a completely different person compared to when he was just picked up.

And the turning point was simply when he set some rules for the villain.

Xie De felt it was funny. Sure enough, he's still just a little brat. Isn't it just setting a curfew? Isn't it just not letting him sleep over at a friend's house? It seems such a trivial matter is a massive deal to a kid.

Xie De couldn't be bothered with him. He lowered his head and, like petting a puppy, stroked the little house centipede that had come over to greet him, feeding it some newly bought cicada pupae.

The relationship between the little centipede and the villain had always been poor. Even after so long, he had never seen the little centipede actively show the villain a friendly face.

Uh, of course, it was also entirely possible that the villain simply had no way of treating the little centipede like a pet.

Xie De actually found the little centipede to be quite "ugly-cute".

After feeding it, Xie De went to wash up, and then lay sprawled comfortably on the bed, grabbing the phone from his bedside.

"Gibberish, I asked you to figure out a way to send the villain away. Have you thought about where to send him?"

Gibberish emerged from the player forum and answered immediately, "I know a place specifically meant to house creatures like the villain."

"Where?"

"The Incomplete Scenarios, also known as the Scenario Reserves. It's a subsidiary space of the scenario system, a very large one. It houses all sorts of NPCs that haven't made their debut yet. It's a massive place. If you send the villain there, the scenario system can take charge of raising him. He won't have to worry about food or drink there, and there's even work!"

"...Are you serious?" Xie De grew more shocked the more he listened.

"Are you already that familiar with the scenario system?"

"Hehe. I told you not to underestimate me!" Gibberish laughed a bit sleazily. "This is all earned through my painstaking efforts. Low profile, keep a low profile."

"What did you do?"

"I sent it two hundred million messages in a single day."

"Holy crap, awesome. How is this any different from forced love?" Xie De sat up straight as if waking from a dying state and gave a thumbs-up. "I highly doubt the reliability of this. Since the benefits are so good, why don't you get me in there?"

Gibberish spoke the truth, "It doesn't want someone as old as you."

"..."

"I'm kidding. What the scenario system wants are special people like the villain, or those who died incredibly tragic deaths. You don't fit a single criterion."

Gibberish then comforted him, "Being a player is much better than being an NPC. Players are the customers, and NPCs are just laborers. The scenario system said it has always treated players as God."

Xie De: "...So it's always been dedicated to sending players to heaven?"

While Xie De was contemplating where to send the villain, in a very distant, cross-national location with a pleasant Mediterranean climate, stood an unabashedly ostentatious building.

In front of massive floor-to-ceiling windows.

The man sitting in the seat of honor was young, dressed in a sharp suit, and extremely handsome, with a pair of azure blue eyes. He was an old-money aristocrat from Country I. You could also call him a capitalist. A large portion of the laboratory's funding was sponsored by him.

"Has the experimental subject Wei Yunmo still not been found?"

A group of people stood in the spacious hall, and the leader stepped forward and bowed.

"We are very sorry. His tracks disappeared in northern China, and we have almost no clues or leads."

"Northern China?" Jefferson Mockney lowered his head and pondered for a moment. When he looked up again, his expression was somewhat serious.

"What are your thoughts?"

The person across from him looked much more serious than he did, his tone tinged with some indignation.

"We suspect that people from the Club might have taken him. The Club even took action and killed two of our agents."

Mockney furrowed his brows tightly and whispered, "God..."

The Club they were discussing referred to a private, mysterious faction that belonged neither to the laboratory nor to the government. They proclaimed that mysterious powers should not be exploited by disgusting capitalists, and that those who possessed mysterious powers should also possess basic human rights and ought not to be controlled.

They frequently went against the laboratory and official organizations.

It was highly likely that Wei Yunmo had been taken by people from the Club!

What a truly detestable organization.