Not finding Lin Yi for two days, Xia You almost thought she was seeing things. If she hadn’t seen Yu Xiaonan’s dejected appearance in "Military Road," Xia You wouldn’t be inclined to associate the reserved man from the Rand Military District with the man in front of her with hollowed eyes and a jaw full of stubble.
"I heard that you’re the most... cleanliness-loving person in the whole military district, how come now," what Xia You referred to as "heard" could only mean hearing it from Mo Xixi, since she had only worked at the Rand Military District once.
Yu Xiaonan may not have a high military rank, but within Rand, he was somewhat famous. With Mo Xixi’s background, logically, any identity of anyone before entering the military region should come as no surprise to her, yet Yu Xiaonan’s past identity still caused Mo Xixi to gossip.
"Yu Xiaonan is the runner-up of Hua Country’s Good Man, famous for his singing. Before entering the military region, he was also a heartthrob. Later, for some reason, he quit the entertainment industry and somehow joined Rand Military District, even entering the notoriously difficult Armed Department," Mo Xixi, who had been chirping away, fell silent upon mentioning the Armed Department. Everyone has a weakness, and there are people even Mo Xixi wouldn’t dare gossip about. After mentioning the Armed Department, she became tight-lipped.
So, according to Mo Xixi, Yu Xiaonan should be someone who really cares about appearances, but the way he showed up today was obviously a bit unseemly.
"Hey, you’re not trying to scam me with the military merit thing, are you?" Eyes bloodshot, Yu Xiaonan was even happier to see Xia You than his own mother, "I’m so worried, I’ve been up for two nights in a row, and I still can’t beat..."
In a sense, Mo Xixi and Yu Xiaonan were the same kind of people; they both spoke and acted on whims. This type of person also has a fatal weakness. Using the summary word Lin Yi used to capture Mo Xixi in those years: these people are not suitable for being intelligence criminals. Typical of speaking without thinking.
"You’ve been up all night playing ’Military Road’, and moreover, you were attacked by others?" Looking at Yu Xiaonan’s complexion and mental state as he got out of the car, Xia You guessed he had been in contact with that game since the "Military Road" test, just like herself.
If her continued involvement in "Military Road" was for money, then what was Yu Xiaonan’s goal?
"I was also forced by circumstances, blame the people of the Armed Department for not believing my heroic deeds in ’Military Road’," Yu Xiaonan still maintained his bragging style. He remembered halfway through that anywhere was good to boast, except in front of Xia You, then cleverly steered back to the main topic, "I remember when you left last time, you didn’t have much military merit either. Even if you, like me, have entered the main battlefield two, the difficulty of the tasks you’d face probably wouldn’t be much different from mine, so you shouldn’t have any spare military merit by now," Although Yu Xiaonan was straightforward, he was still capable of basic calculations. If it was only a few dozen points of military merit, he wouldn’t be particularly interested.
"I have 600 military merits on hand, and I’ll sell them all to you at the last price," Xia You didn’t bother to guess why he needed the military merits. She thought Yu Xiaonan’s reaction would be very intense this time, as it was last minute and she was charging a hefty price; this time...
To her surprise, Yu Xiaonan didn’t react too strongly, but as if afraid that Xia You would change her mind, immediately drew a check, filled it with five zeroes, and forcibly handed it to Xia You, "A flat rate, remember to transfer the military merits to me once you’re back at the National Security Department and connected to the network."
After saying this, he jumped back into the car as if his backside was on fire, impatiently sped off, and disappeared in a cloud of smoke, not heading in the direction of the Rand Military District.
After driving away in his Infiniti, Yu Xiaonan, holding the steering wheel with one hand, wondered, "This person No. 0, is quite a blockhead, selling military merits to me for such a price. Did she even enter the main battlefield two, and if she didn’t, where did those 600 military merits come from? If she did enter, why would she be willing to transfer them to me for such a low price?"
Of course, Yu Xiaonan didn’t know that Xia You actually still lingered in the reserve battlefield, and her 600 military merits wouldn’t affect her accumulation of merits after entering the main battlefield two. To put it more colloquially, as long as Xia You could complete the task, the "Military Road" was giving her a free pie. However, all this was conditional on the ability to complete the task.
After receiving Yu Xiaonan’s payment, Xia You visited a real estate agency to learn about the rental situation in Bazhou City. After the 2012 End of the World theory, there would be Doomsday predictions every ten years, and the once bullish real estate market went through a roller-coaster ride of rises and falls.
According to Xia You’s plan, buying a house was not possible in the short term, so renting a suitable property, preferably with commercial potential, was the way to settle down Xia Yun and Maggie while allowing Xia Yun to continue running her preferred restaurant.
There were few neighborhoods that were safe and could provide a good education for Little Eight. Rentals suitable for both residential and commercial use would cost over two hundred thousand a year. "Miss, nowadays renting is more expensive than buying a house. You should discuss with your family’s elders, if you have enough funds on hand, paying around two million at once could, with some luck, get you an independent residential-commercial house." The real estate agent analyzed for Xia You.
After leaving a contact number, Xia You left the real estate agency, the feeling of being mentally crushed last night wandering in her mind from time to time.
"I need to find that Bald guy and get my needle shooting gun back," Little Eight was startled by the sentence Xia You blurted out. Since she had known Number 0, she had never seen her this angry.
(How do we find him, the ’Military Road’ system is so large, after players complete the Newbie Village, they will automatically be transferred to the main battlefield, and in those few hours while you were sleeping and wandering, that absurdly strong Bald Soldier probably already completed all the reserve battlefield tasks and made a clean getaway.) Little Eight wasn’t trying to dampen Number 0’s spirits, but with the spread of "Military Road" across the global Military Network, similar acts of robbery were bound to become more frequent.
Xia You boarded a city circle bus, remained silent, pulled out a second-line earphone, and took a seat at the very back, "Then initiate a network-wide ’manhunt’." After that, she tapped the "Military Road" icon on her phone.
(Network-wide manhunt,) Little Eight was a bit confused. Did Number 0 mean that she was taking on that Bald Soldier?
The circle line bus wandered aimlessly around Bazhou City, with passengers getting on and off along the way. Few would notice the last row of seats, where a girl with earphones sat looking as if she had passed out from sleep, who never got off the bus.