"Please lie down and look into my eyes..."
"Shouldn’t we turn off the lights? And draw the curtains too. It wouldn’t be good if someone else saw us..."
"Don’t worry, I’ll make you feel very comfortable..."
Outside a certain room on the third floor of the Tactical Bureau, Qiao Muyi pressed her ear against the door, excitedly listening to the sounds from within.
The door suddenly opened. Qiao Muyi almost lost her balance. However, possessing the reflexes of a Second Stage Cultivator, which far exceeded those of an ordinary person, she instantly regained her composure and stood straight. She then saw Ren Suo emerging from the pitch-black room.
Ren Suo looked at her with a puzzled expression. "What are you doing?"
Qiao Muyi didn’t answer. Glancing at her phone, she muttered, "Three minutes. Are boys always this quick, even with other boys?"
"Quick?" Ren Suo blinked, casually closing the door behind him. "How long did you expect it to take, then?"
Qiao Muyi suddenly felt that the future for Gu Yueyan and Dong Chengling was bleak. Still, just to be sure, she asked another question, "What were you and that Li Dan fellow doing alone in a room?"
"Sleeping," Ren Suo said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.
Qiao Muyi swallowed hard and stepped aside, pulling out her phone. "Let me just send a message first..."
Ren Suo scratched his head, glanced at Qiao Muyi, and asked, "Is there something you need my help with?"
"What would I need the help of a First-level Healing Cultivator for?" Qiao Muyi rolled her eyes.
Ren Suo asked again, "Well, is Yu Kuangtu here?"
Qiao Muyi looked at the firmly shut door of the room behind Ren Suo, then at the refreshed-looking Ren Suo. With a complicated expression, she said, "Deputy Director Yu went out today. Why, are you close with Deputy Director Yu too?"
"Not very close," Ren Suo thought for a moment, then added, "About the same as with Li Dan, I guess."
So that means very close, close enough to be completely open with each other...
Watching Ren Suo leave, Qiao Muyi finished composing her message and sent it. She sighed, "Who would have thought... who would have thought..."
Standing in the subway, Ren Suo held onto no handles nor leaned on any objects. He maintained his balance with the poise of Mount Tai, unswayed by the surrounding movements, and was even able to play on his phone.
Even without deliberately listening, he could clearly hear the whispers of the people nearby:
"Hahaha, Lv Xiaoshu’s moves are so slick." — A student to his left, engrossed in a novel on his phone.
"Not coming back for dinner? Yeah, pulling an all-nighter." — A young man sitting down, sending voice messages on WeChat.
"Should we go to your place or mine tonight?"
"No one’s home at my place tonight."
"You have to wear those pajamas tonight! We haven’t taken a bath together in so long!"
"My place doesn’t have a bathtub like yours. How can we take a bath together?"
"We can shower together too, TEEHEE." — Two cute girls whispering to each other.
Don’t ask why Ren Suo heard so much. It was simply because those two girls were quite close to him. That, and he might have slowly drifted a bit closer after hearing their first sentence.
I’ve finally got a ’Bond’ ability... Ren Suo thought. Then a line of information appeared in his consciousness:
"Li Dan, Bond Level 1, Bond Ability ’Insight into the Mortal World’: Enhances the five senses and body control."
This was the game system Ren Suo had obtained—the Bond System from "Desire City Persona!"
The game system was different from the Mini-World Game Console. With the console, aside from the backup slot that Ren Suo could operate mentally, all other features required him to use the console itself.
The game system, however, was directly integrated into Ren Suo’s body, almost bound to his consciousness. He could understand details and operate it with a mere thought!
The Bond System was a subsidiary system of "Desire City Persona!" In the game, the higher the bond between the protagonist and their comrades, the more benefits both protagonist and comrades could derive from those bonds.
The Bond System Ren Suo obtained was largely similar, with the main difference being the targets of these bonds. In the game, comrades were pre-set by the game itself. In reality, however, Ren Suo had to find his own comrades to form bonds with.
Firstly, achieving a bond required more than just a close personal relationship. Ren Suo also had to help the target complete a specific task to activate the Bond System, and he had to personally contribute effort. Otherwise, not even a parent-child relationship could activate it.
Additionally, there were limitations on who could form bonds. This restriction was easy to infer: only Awakeners could form bonds.
Ren Suo had previously approached Zhao Huo, offering to help him with a day’s worth of subtitling. Ren Suo had genuinely been unaware that Zhao Huo was even part of an anime subtitling group, let alone its leader.
Ren Suo had even heard of this subtitling group; it was quite famous in the illicit anime scene of Mysterious Country, and the young, ignorant Ren Suo had often benefited from their releases in the past.
When Ren Suo approached Zhao Huo, the group’s timer—the person responsible for syncing subtitles to audio—had coincidentally taken a leave of absence. So, upon hearing Ren Suo’s offer to help, Zhao Huo immediately roped him into timing subtitles.
Timing subtitles didn’t require any particular skills; an ordinary person could master it within three hours.
Thus, after six hours—during which he watched several episodes seven or eight times to finally get the timing right, leaving him feeling utterly drained—the Bond System still hadn’t reacted.
Then Ren Suo found Li Dan and had him take a nap. Sure enough, the Bond System triggered.
What was the biggest difference between Li Dan and Zhao Huo? Zhao Huo had a fiancée.
The other difference was that Li Dan was an Awakener, while Zhao Huo was merely an ordinary Cultivator, though both were Second Stage Cultivators.
Moreover, the Bond Ability ’Insight into the Mortal World’ was obviously related to Li Dan’s awakened spells. Ren Suo remembered that Li Dan’s key was also called ’Insight Key’.
Let Li Dan sleep a few more times to increase the Bond Level? It can’t be that simple... Ren Suo pondered.
The Bond Level was related to his relationship with Li Dan, and Ren Suo didn’t believe his role as a ’professional hypnotist’ would earn him immense trust from Li Dan.
Furthermore, according to the Bond System’s explanation, the strength of a Bond Ability depended not only on its level but also on the target’s power—the stronger the target, the more potent the Bond Ability they provided.
What a marvelous game system... I’m just not sure if it can be converted into an ability for other game characters, Ren Suo mused.
As Ren Suo neared the academy gate, he suddenly received a call. He glanced at the caller ID and answered directly, "What’s up?"
Gu Yueyan was just getting ready to go out for a bite to eat when she suddenly received a message from Qiao Muyi. Her first reaction was disbelief. Ren Suo was the kind of guy who would try to woo Teacher Dong even on his deathbed; how could he possibly be gay?
Sister Qiao isn’t always reliable... Gu Yueyan thought, dismissing the idea and followed her classmates out of the academy. Although the incident from last time had spooked them somewhat, they had learned their lesson and wouldn’t fall for such a trick again.
Besides, the Tactical Bureau had already commenced operations. It was said they had eradicated the new species of demons within the city. They couldn’t live in fear forever. Since the other students weren’t afraid, Gu Yueyan couldn’t show her fear either—especially as she possessed the Spatial Coordinates given to her by Teacher Dong.
"Eh?" As she neared the academy gate, Lin Xianyu exclaimed in surprise, "Isn’t that Big Brother Ren?"
Gu Yueyan looked in the indicated direction. She saw Ren Suo walking briskly from the subway station toward a boy waving from afar. The boy was somewhat short, wore black jeans, a white shirt, and a hat, and carried a backpack; he looked quite delicate.
Does he know him? Gu Yueyan wondered. Then, the next second, she saw Ren Suo rush over and hug the boy.
That wasn’t all—the boy actually nuzzled his face against Ren Suo’s cheek!
After they parted, Ren Suo immediately took out his wallet and gave the boy money, and then the boy went off with Ren Suo!
"Whoa, whoa, whoa—?! That’s practically a crime!"