Yuze could tell she wasn’t lying, so he didn’t dwell on the matter any longer and asked, "What’s the deal with your Beastification?"
Josh looked at him, puzzled.
Yuze: "I’ve checked your previous body data, and you were still some time away from Beastification. After Beastification ended, various functions of your body have strongly optimized, even..."
His gaze landed on her face: "Even your skin and features have changed slightly. I think that Beastification isn’t a cosmetic surgery clinic, nor a genetic modification lab; it can’t achieve such significant changes."
Josh was slightly taken aback; she hadn’t noticed any difference in her appearance, except that the doctor’s sister mentioned she’d gotten a bit taller.
She met Yuze’s gaze. The opponent’s eyes were calm and amiable, but the sharpness hidden underneath was hard to fool.
He wasn’t someone you could easily fool.
Since she had received so much kindness from him, it was only right to be somewhat candid.
Josh thought for a while and carefully said, "It’s a training method taught by my master."
"The one you mentioned, like a god?"
"Yes."
Yuze became interested: "Wanna elaborate?"
Josh shrugged: "I can’t elaborate; the Federation’s technology can’t explain the principles of my training. It’s also akin to a personal skill, a form of meditation training to purify the body, a method of continuously improving one’s spiritual power."
Yuze looked at her intently: "Are you sure?"
Josh nodded: "Yeah, what else would you think it is?"
The two of them silently gazed at each other for a few seconds.
There was a palpable sense of pressure in Yuze’s eyes, and his spiritual power level weighed down overwhelmingly.
One of his personal skills was Judgment, and no one could lie in his presence.
Including Josh, who was paired with him.
The other’s eyes remained consistently candid and were not affected by his skill.
Josh’s mouth twitched slightly: "Captain, do you want to withdraw your spiritual power suppression?"
Yuze’s eyes turned instantly sharp: "What?"
"..." Josh: "You probably forgot, I’m your Master An, unaffected by your spiritual power suppression."
Yuze’s momentum weakened a bit: "...Oh, I forgot."
Since the Judgment Skill didn’t take effect on her, it meant she really wasn’t lying.
Yuze shrugged: "Alright, if there’s nothing else, I’ll be leaving."
"Wait a minute," Josh grabbed him: "You came to me out of nowhere to ask these things, do you have some thoughts?"
Yuze’s gaze shifted from their intertwined hands to her face after a moment.
After Beastification, her features seemed a bit more mature, her eyebrows and eyes became more delicate, and her complexion, previously sallow due to malnutrition, lightened slightly.
Her eyes remained bright as ever, like two lustrous amber crystals refracted under intense light, watery and clear.
He sat down following the gesture: "What thoughts?"
Josh withdrew her hand, frowning slightly: "We’re teammates, destined to fight side by side for a long time, so I’m being honest with you. I hope, if you have any thoughts or any ideas or dissatisfaction with me, you’ll also be honest. I don’t like the evaluative look you had when you came in."
Yuze raised his brow slightly, this little one is indeed sharp.
He chuckled, eyes open: "Alright then, I was initially worried you might be recklessly using drugs to be aggressive, but now it seems I overthought it."
"Drugs?" Josh never expected such an answer.
Yuze raised a hand to tousle her soft, fluffy hair into a mess, unable to suppress a low laugh at her protesting eyes: "You just joined the team and are the youngest among us. The controversy surrounding you online has never stopped. Your Beastification came out of nowhere; I thought you might be reacting to online criticism, wanting to aggressively improve your skills through something like drug use, like Turbo would."
Josh suddenly realized, amused, and saw Yuze in a new light.
This seemingly lazy and unreliable captain is actually very meticulous.
If a typical young girl with a weaker mental resilience were in her place, she might really be driven by online doubts to desperately improve her skills to keep up with the team and prove herself.
Even if not through aggressive methods like drug use, she would likely still push herself relentlessly in training.
As a captain, Yuze might seem indifferent about everything and appear not very reliable at first glance, but in reality, he is quite attentive.
At least more meticulous than Josh had imagined.
"Alright, you sleep now. I’m leaving." Yuze got up and left.
Josh smiled and nodded: "Goodnight, captain."
"Goodnight."
*
The next day.
The five gathered in the game login room on the third floor.
Josh, Yuze, and Rob formed one group, while Jiang Can and Yushi were another group.
Ma Qi said: "Last time, you guys were more than capable in the A+ instance. This time, let’s up the difficulty; your team has grown, so let’s go to an S-level instance."
Josh nodded, walked up to the display, and randomly selected a decoding instance from the S-level.
When he saw the name of the instance, Rob’s face stiffened for a moment, and Yuze frowned slightly.
Seeing their expressions, Josh let go: "How about I select another one?"
Ma Qi said from the side: "No need, this one’s fine, go ahead."
Josh obviously had no objections, and Yuze and Rob also nodded: "Alright."
The group logged into the instance.
Yushi eerily watched them at the login interface, seemingly ready to break in at any moment.
Ma Qi pulled him back: "You work with Jiang Can on the A+ instance to improve your synergy; out of the entire team, it’s you two with the weakest solo synergy!"
Yushi glared at Ma Qi indignantly and resignedly followed Jiang Can into the instance.
As the instance displayed that Golden Shit Stirrer had three logins, several teams rushed in as if they couldn’t wait to follow Josh and the others once they entered.
[Welcome to the instance "Gorgeous Cage."]
[Reality and the internet exist as two intersecting worlds in the same time-space.
In the scarred, ravaged reality, people are oppressed, consumed, and deformed by pressures from family, society, and friends, becoming twisted puppets.
Yet in the internet, they embark on bizarre new adventures with unique identities and personas—they are million-dollar monthly earners, upper-class young masters with villas and luxury cars at hand, they are passionate brandy, they are dazzling red roses; they exude elegance like ancient nobles, willingly indulging in the false, transient joy of the internet’s gorgeous cage.
However, extreme revelry is always built on the suffering of others.
A string of girl suicide cases sent shockwaves through this world of the gorgeous cage.]
[Players, please prepare for the game. Countdown: one minute, 59, 58, 57...]
[Ding! Countdown over, the game officially starts. Players, please take this seriously, play civilized.]
[Your identity is a singing and dancing internet celebrity.]
[Your main quest is: Find out the truth behind the girl’s deaths.]