“So… do the high scorers just choose to stay out of the game?” Ning Wan asked.
While she and the others were still puzzling over the sudden drop, the same question was being asked at the Special Affairs Office’s onboarding meeting.
Qiu Yi was momentarily stunned.
One of the team members followed up, “Doctor, are you planning to keep playing the game?”
Fair question—“Doctor” had nearly 2,000 points. That was enough to exchange for five full years of rest. With that kind of buffer, there was absolutely no need for him to risk his life in another instance.
Qiu Yi suddenly felt the urge to smack himself. If Dr. Fu had no plans to return to the game, then bringing him into the Special Affairs Office… wasn’t that just forcing him back into it? The thought made him anxious. He glanced nervously toward Fu Changxun and Dong Zi.
But Fu Changxun didn’t give a yes or no. Instead, he asked, “Do we have to quit our jobs to work here? I already have a profession.”
“No, no,” the team members chimed in all at once. “Most of us are doing this part-time.”
That cleared up his concern.
“I definitely plan to keep entering the game—”
He had just finished speaking when Dong Zi suddenly leaned in. “Ah Xun! Check the leaderboard. That guy ‘Working Stiff’—his points just dropped by a thousand!”
Fu Changxun didn’t even register how close Dong Zi was. He instantly pulled up his personal game panel.
[Rank 1: Working Stiff – Points: 4456.78]
[Rank 2: Doctor – Points: 1948.3]
Sure enough, “Working Stiff” had lost exactly a thousand points. Fu Changxun had also lost fifty—that must’ve been from buying the team item.
But where had those thousand points gone? Could he have… exchanged them for cash?
Fu Changxun shook his head hard, dismissing the ridiculous idea.
Around them, the other Special Affairs members were all checking their own panels.
“What the hell? I don’t see any items in the Game Shop worth 1,000 points.”
“Maybe he bought two 500-point items?”
“No way he cashed out, right?”
“What is he, broke?”
“Ahem!” Qiu Yi suddenly coughed loudly. “Let’s not speculate about someone’s private business.”
Everyone: “Tch—”
No one could say for sure what “Working Stiff” had done with his points. As the clock neared four, Fu Changxun and Dong Zi left to pick Xu Xiao up from school so they could discuss things as a group.
Fu Changxun actually liked this playful, bantering atmosphere. Dong Zi didn’t mind either. But Xu Xiao was the deciding factor—if she couldn’t or didn’t want to join, then all the effort Qiu Yi had put in would’ve been for nothing.
Xu Xiao was dragged here with no explanation and now found herself being asked if she wanted to join… something.
She blinked blankly. “Special Affairs Office… what’s that?”
Everyone: “…”
Fu Changxun gave her a quick rundown of what the office was and what it did.
Her eyes lit up. “So it’s like a government-run alliance of superpowered people?”
Qiu Yi smiled. “Something like that. We help players clear instances—and yes, there’s a salary.”
Everyone dreams of saving the world. Age, gender—it doesn’t matter.
Xu Xiao was still a child, right at the age when imagination ran wild. Naturally, she was excited. And she still wanted help finding a way to save her dad.
“I want to join!” she said happily.
Fu Changxun didn’t hesitate. “Then we’re in. Ah Zi, talk terms. Let’s get the contract signed.”
Negotiating compensation was Dong Zi’s wheelhouse, so he handled that. They eventually settled on a deal everyone found fair—even Xu Xiao would be getting paid.
Since they hadn’t joined through a formal application process, the contract terms were quite lenient.
Qiu Yi only said, “One instance per month, fully livestreamed. That’s all we ask—just for recordkeeping. You’re not military or law enforcement, so we won’t require you to help others pass.”
“We should do it anyway,” Fu Changxun said with a small smile. “I’m not a cop—but I’m still human.”
He understood the stakes.
The more players died in the game, the harder it would be to return to normal life. One day, there might be no ‘normal’ to return to at all.
That concluded the onboarding meeting. The Special Affairs Office had gained three new members—another step toward stabilizing Huaxia in a chaotic world.
“Excellent. That brings our core staff to nine.” Qiu Yi clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention. “Now, onto official business: there was another terrorist attack in the U.S. this morning. Their government is planning to create a task force modeled after ours.”
A female member scowled. “Copycats. Director Qiu, we can’t let them outdo us! I’m heading into an instance right now—do I have approval?”
Qiu Yi: “Lulu, sit down.”
The girl—Lulu—pouted. “Fine…”
“I’m not saying don’t go. Just be prepared before you do. Find good teammates. Don’t go rushing in.”
Qiu Yi’s voice grew serious. “You can’t act on impulse. And don’t sneak off, understand?”
Lulu: “…Got it.”
She had, in fact, been planning to sneak off.
Qiu Yi shook his head. “Forget it. Join Doctor’s team next time. Coordinate with them.”
Lulu had been sulking like a wilted eggplant. But hearing that, she shot up like a rocket. “Yes, sir!”
She immediately turned to Fu Changxun, eyes sparkling. “Doctor, when are we heading into an instance? I’m ready! This’ll be my fourth!”
“You’re so eager,” Fu Changxun said, amused. “Aren’t you scared?”
Lulu shook her head. “Not at all. My ability is healing. With me around, you’ve basically got an extra life.”
Healing…
Xu Xiao perked up and rushed over. “Jiejie, how do you heal people? Can you bring the dead back to life?”
Lulu looked troubled. “Uh… probably not. Sorry, little one.”
Xu Xiao let out a small “oh” and sat back down beside Fu Changxun, a little disappointed.
He leaned down and whispered gently, “Don’t be sad. Abilities can evolve. Maybe one day her healing will be strong enough to bring people back. Think positive, alright? The important thing is—we have hope now. Isn’t that right?”
Xu Xiao nodded earnestly. “Mm-hmm.”
Lulu watched them, visibly surprised. This “Doctor” didn’t feel like a regular physician at all—more like someone trained in psychological counseling. And her instincts were rarely wrong.
“Then let’s add each other,” Lulu insisted. “We can prepare and go into the next instance together! I promise I won’t drag you down!”
“Alright. I’ll think about it,” Fu Changxun replied, accepting the friend request.
The Special Affairs Office had dozens of field agents, and that number might eventually grow into the hundreds or even thousands. But the core team? Still just six.
With the addition of Fu Changxun and the other two, that number only went up to nine—making them extremely rare resources.
There weren’t any strict working hours. Day-to-day life was pretty relaxed. Aside from instance-junkies like Lulu, most members were perfectly content to slack off.
They did enter instances more frequently than the average player—roughly once a week—but even that usually only added up to two or three times per person. After the meeting, Qiu Yi waved everyone off to do their own thing. Most drifted home or off to wherever else they pleased.
Dong Zi held Fu Changxun’s hand in one and scooped up Xu Xiao in the other, the three of them blending seamlessly into the group like a little makeshift family.
Lulu was already pestering Director Qiu again. “Come on, come on—help me prep for the next instance!”
Qiu Yi, exhausted: Why is it that every person I recruit ends up being this much trouble?
By the time they left the Special Affairs Office building, night had already fallen.
Xu Xiao tugged on Fu Changxun’s sleeve with pitiful eyes. “Gege, I’m hungry.”
Fair enough—it was dinner time.
“What do you feel like?” Dong Zi started the car. “Should we buy groceries and cook, or eat out?”
Before Fu Changxun could answer, Xu Xiao eagerly raised her hand. “I want gege to cook!”
Dong Zi waited for Fu Changxun’s response. The latter smiled. “Sure. Ah Zi, let’s hit the supermarket and grab some fresh ingredients.”
The car slowly pulled out, parking later in the underground lot of a nearby mall.
“I’ll go get the groceries,” Fu Changxun said as he got out. “You take Xu Xiao and grab some snacks she likes. Meet me by the fresh food section.”
Dong Zi looked down at Xu Xiao. The little girl strained to look up at him.
They stared at each other for a while—until both gave up because the angle was too tiring.
“Alright. Be careful.”
When Fu Changxun entered the fresh food area, he was still amused. Come on—it’s not an instance. What danger could there possibly be?
But he understood all too soon.
Because he ran into Lu Qi—his dumbass of a “lucky” ex.
“Changxun, let’s get back together. I realized I still can’t live without you. You can’t treat me like this…” Lu Qi stood dramatically in front of the fish stall, dabbing at his eyes like he was in a bad soap opera.
Even the fish vendor was getting into it, eyes flicking between the two men with barely concealed intrigue.
Fu Changxun mentally filtered Lu Qi’s voice into dog barks. He picked a fish and handed it over. “Hi, I’ll take this one.”
“I don’t even care that you’re a player! You know I’ve never had a problem with your profession! I mean, look at how people talk about you outside—only I don’t judge, only I! Why won’t you give me another chance?”
Lu Qi kept rambling, tailing him all the way out of the fresh food area.
Utterly fed up, Fu Changxun suddenly turned and smack—slapped him across the face with the fish tail.
Lu Qi’s eyes bulged like saucers.
“Still wanna talk? Scram.”
And with that, while Lu Qi stood there stunned, he slipped into the crowd and vanished.
Over in the snack aisle, Dong Zi was helping Xu Xiao choose treats, but his eyes kept drifting toward the fresh food section. The moment he spotted a familiar figure, he waved. “Ah Xun, over here.”
Fu Changxun walked over, fish in hand, but his expression was… not great.
“Who’d you see?” Dong Zi asked casually as soon as he got close.
Fu Changxun looked utterly dead inside. “Don’t ask. Just… bad luck.”
Dong Zi didn’t press, but he didn’t move either—just kept staring at him steadily.
After a good ten seconds of eye contact, Fu Changxun gave in. “Fine, fine. I ran into Lu Qi. My dumbass ex still hasn’t been pulled into the game, and just now he was trying to convince me he didn’t care that I was a player. Said if he did get pulled in, he’d protect me or whatever.”
Dong Zi: “…And you believed him?”
“Believe what?!” Fu Changxun rolled his eyes so hard they nearly fell out. “The guy’s still trying to gaslight me. Back then he used to say he didn’t mind that I was a shrink—then went around spreading rumors about me. I should’ve charged him emotional damages.”
Dong Zi’s lips twitched upward. His mood visibly improved.
Xu Xiao, caught between them: “?”
Adults are so weird.
