It was night. In Yuan Luori’s legal study livestream, Yuan Luori was sitting on the floor reading, from time to time stroking the head of the dog next to him. The livestream was very quiet. There was only the sound of him turning pages. 

Director Ha occasionally gave an enormous yawn and licked its nose, resisting Yuan Luori’s gesture of petting its head. 

The body it had chosen was a dog that had died of canine parvovirus. Destroyer 192 had been willing to spend points to get medicine to heal the body of the rent boy, but it hadn’t bothered to heal the body of a dog that it had only planned to temporarily use for less than an hour. It had only given the dog a little energy so it could move. 

But Yu Hua had absorbed its System, and it had to stay in this body forever. 

When it had first become a dog, Director Ha had wanted to die. But death wasn’t so easy. Starvation, pain, bloody stools… Facing death was frequently more frightening than death itself. 

Because of one instance of bloody stool caused by the parvovirus, Director Ha had been unable to stand it any longer and had used its small amount of remaining spirit energy to heal the disease. Adding in that Lian Yufan had noticed Director Ha’s state of health and had taken it to get some shots, it had now basically recovered from the parvovirus. 

Because of this illness, Lian Yufan had secretly cursed Yu Hua several times for being a cheapskate and buying a dog that was about to die. He would even take advantage of a dog. He wasn’t human. 

However unsatisfied he was with the human resources director, Lian Yufan still couldn’t allow a pitiful little doggy to die like this. He had paid out of his own pocket to get the dog treatment. 

When he had taken Director Ha to the vet, the little husky’s blue eyes had been full of complicated emotions. If Director Lian had known that it had been the one who had broken his spine… Thinking of this, Director Ha had been unable to resist sticking its tail between its legs. 

Lian Yufan had also thrown away the inferior dog food Yu Hua had bought, saying that if they wanted the dog to attract fans, its fur had to be bright. If it ate this type of dog food, its fur would fall out. 

Between the shots and buying top quality dog food, nutritional paste, probiotics, and other such pet items, Lian Yufan had spent quite a lot of money. 

Even so, Director Ha’s health still wasn’t very good. At only three months old, the dog was shedding severely. These past few days, the environmental maintenance director Yuan Luori had been brought to a state of collapse by sweeping dog hair. However he swept with a broom, he couldn’t sweep it all. He had to use a mop with a sponge to wipe it bit by bit. He had to wipe several times a day. 

Yuan Luori had put in a request to purchase a vacuum cleaner. He was waiting for Yu Hua to examine and approve it on Monday. 

Director Ha knew that it was frail. It couldn’t grow fur nearly as fast as it shed it. It didn’t want to live, but diarrhea was too painful and hunger was too unpleasant. It had to get better and eat. Since it had decided to live on in spite of itself, it had to wait patiently for new levelers to arrive, long for the Clearing League’s people to rescue it. 

But before it was rescued, Director Ha didn’t want to be a bald husky, so it resisted Yuan Luori’s habit of petting it while he studied. But…

It felt so nice to be petted! 

It was a dog’s nature to like being stroked and having its fur combed. Although Director Ha was trapped in this body, it still couldn’t control this nature. 

Sometimes it shook its head to refuse Yuan Luori’s petting, using a howl under fifty decibels to protest, and sometimes it involuntarily raised its front paws to pat Yuan Luori’s hand as he flipped pages, making him pet it at the same time. 

Yuan Luori was an expert at long distance archery. His fingers were long, slender, and powerful. He used just the right strength to pet. The canine nature couldn’t resist this sort of touch. Director Ha narrowed its eyes in spite of itself, stretched out its neck, and voluntarily put its chin on Yuan Luori’s thigh. 

When it noticed its disgraceful behavior, it gave another miserable howl of less than fifty decibels, defiantly got away from Yuan Luori, and curled up in a corner. 

The man and the dog’s miraculous interactions had the livestream fans going crazy from laughter:

[Is this…a real life version of “your mouth is saying no but your body is saying yes?”]

[I really admire Yuan Luori for being able to concentrate on reading with such a little tsundere next to him.]

[What? Why are they raising the dog to be a cat?]

[Ah, graduate exams are bitter. If I can look up once in a while while studying and look at Yuan Luori-xiaogege’s godly face and Director Ha’s short fur, the bitterness in my heart becomes sweet.]

[“Short fur” is a wonderful expression. It’s very euphemistic of you not to say “balding.”]

There were many people in the livestream but few comments in the barrage. The people accompanying Yuan Luori in study would only look at the video to take in the young man and the dog and post a comment for their fellow enthusiasts during their breaks. 

Yuan Luori was a typical example of the thick-haired staying up late crew. He livestreamed every night starting at 11 PM and ending at 2 AM, three hours in total. Today, when he had studied until a little past one, the livestream picture suddenly shook and went off. 

The fans were puzzled, but Yuan Luori had never arranged livestream times with the fans. He had always done as he liked. It was normal for him to be a little early or a little late. The fans could only lament that he had gone to bed early tonight. 

When the livestream disconnected, Yuan Luori was also surprised. He picked up his phone and looked at it over and over, suspecting that he had accidentally touched some button. 

“I really wouldn’t have expected you to fall to this level.” A voice appeared in the room out of nowhere. Yuan Luori followed the sound and suddenly a person who had been tied up was tossed from the direction of the voice. 

This person who had been tied up once again was Zhen Li. Zhen Li bumped right into Yuan Luori, knocking off his glasses. 

The person who had mocked Yuan Luori was Huan Zixu. He and Feng Kui entered directly through the wall of the studio. Like he had altered the escape room during the day, Feng Kui had covered the studio’s walls with a super alloy while Yuan Luori had been livestreaming. He had controlled the wall into opening a door, then calmly walked in with Huan Zixu. 

“Who are you people?” Zhen Li asked in an aggrieved, quiet voice and rolled on the ground twice. He was only cannon fodder on the Clearing League’s outskirts. He didn’t have the seniority to see management level individuals like Feng Kui and Huan Zixu. 

Everyone wanted to tie him up. Yuan Luori had come and tied him up, Director Ha had forced him to eat paper, and now these two unfamiliar levelers also wanted to tie him up! If this was what you had to put with being boss, then he didn’t want to be the boss! 

“You still aren’t qualified to speak to us,” Huan Zixu said loftily. “Yuan Luori, oh, Yuan Luori, and here I thought you had potential.” 

He looked down upon Yuan Luori huddled and kneeling on the floor. He couldn’t quite understand why he was maintaining this posture. Where was Yuan Luori’s vigilance? 

As Huan Zixu was wondering this, he saw Yuan Luori squint and grope around wildly on the ground. He said, “Where are my glasses? My glasses?” 

Having lost his glasses, Yuan Luori felt that even his hearing had stopped working. He couldn’t tell who the person speaking was. 

Huan Zixu: “…” 

“Over here,” Zhen Li told Yuan Luori. “At your five o’clock, about three meters.” 

“Which direction is five o’clock?” Yuan Luori groped around like a headless fly. 

Seeing Yuan Luori’s sorry state, Feng Kui moved his long fingers slightly. A string of liquid metal wrapped around the glasses and formed into a mechanism around the arms of the glasses to keep them from falling off. Then he gave the glasses back to Yuan Luori. 

“That can…keep them…from…falling off,” Feng Kui said stiffly. 

“Oh, thank you.” Yuan Luori squinted and looked at the anti-slip grip. He put the glasses on and shook his head. He found that it was indeed hard for them to fall off and repeatedly said thank you. 

“There’s…another…little device.” Feng Kui tapped the top of his outer ear. 

Yuan Luori felt around on the anti-slip grip and found a tiny button. He touched it lightly, and the anti-slip grips on both ears extended, connecting at the back of his head, fixing the glasses on his head. At the same time, the anti-slip grip turned into little dragon’s paw clips, firmly fixed to the arms of the glasses. 

It was unclear what material the anti-slip grip at the back of the head was made of. It was evidently metal, but it was rather soft, like rubber, and didn’t hurt the back of the head. 

Yuan Luori touched the button again, and the anti-slip grips resumed their original forms, becoming ordinary silver-colored metal. 

“That’s great. Thank you so much,” Yuan Luori said gratefully again. 

Feng Kui let out a happy mechanical chuckle. 

Huan Zixu was expressionless. The atmosphere he had created before walking through the door had vanished without a trace. 

“Awooo!” A dog’s howl, under fifty decibels, came from a corner. Director Ha boldly charged up into front of Yuan Luori and barked at Huan Zixu in a voice that didn’t violate the law. 

“Xiao Er…” Yuan Luori was rather moved. He had heard that dogs protected people, but he hadn’t expected Director Ha to charge up and protect him under these circumstances. 

If anyone here had understood dog language, what they would have heard was: “Huan Zixu, help, it’s me, it’s me!” 

Unfortunately, there was no one to understand Director Ha’s inexpressible cry for help. 

“This is a good dog. Too bad it’s fallen among bad company.” Huan Zixu’s gaze coldly swept over Director Ha. Feng Kui understood. He raised his hand and dropped Director Ha into its cage, and put a metal muzzle on its mouth so it wouldn’t bark loudly. 

Director Ha jumped around in the cage, whimpering through its nose. But there was no one to understand its sadness, no one. 

“Yuan Luori, who are they?” Zhen Li, who had been tied up into a caterpillar, wriggled slightly towards Yuan Luori. 

“Two of the Clearing League’s managers, Huan Zixu and Feng Kui. They’re passed 199 levels. Some people said they may be more powerful than the head of the league. Especially Huan Zixu. No one knows what his ability is, but I’ve heard that there was a whole crowd of people who wanted to kill him, and later all those people killed each other,” Yuan Luori said heavily. 

His voice was calm, with a heroic tone of going to meet death. If you ignored his earlier predicament of looking for his glasses, his performance today was worthy of praise. 

“Are you looking for the mission target?” Zhen Li said. “We can’t contact him. We’re also being forced. You can’t get any information from us.” 

“You two are obviously bait. I had no hope of finding out the mission target’s whereabouts from you.” Huan Zixu looked down upon Zhen Li. “But you have at least had contact with the mission target? Just tell me something about him.” 

“We-we can’t say,” Zhen Li said, not very firmly. 

“That’s all right. I have ways to make you talk,” Huan Zixu said. 

Feng Kui cooperatively took out two metal chains studded with nails to scare Zhen and Yuan. 

“I…I don’t know what I can and can’t say. How about you two ask. I’ll say whatever I can.” Zhen Li instantly gave up resisting. 

Yu Hua had instructed Zhen Li that if a Destroyer had any brains, they would come to question him, and in a critical situation, apart from not giving up Yu Hua’s identity, Zhen Li could say anything else. Saying it would only have the effect of creating awe, anyway. 

“How could you betray the great master!” Yuan Luori angrily looked at the “traitor” Zhen Li. 

“Good for you,” Huan Zixu said in satisfaction. He indicated that Feng Kui should make Yuan Luori shut up. 

Feng Kui tapped Yuan Luori with his finger. Yuan Luori was bound by metal fetters, unable to move. His mouth was also covered. 

“Now it’s peaceful.” Huan Zixu asked Zhen Li, “What about your abilities? Even though you’ve failed at the mission and been forced to remain in this world, being controlled by the protection organization, you still couldn’t have lost your power. Is the protection organization using some means to seal your powers?” 

Zhen Li obediently answered, “No, our Systems have been entirely absorbed by the mission target. Doesn’t the Clearing League know that?” 

“The Clearing League has no way of communicating with this world. Apart from knowing that there is a mission target, our only information comes from the black-cloaked man’s two communications. The first time, he used Yuan Luori’s account to send a voice recording warning us not to kill innocent people. The second time, he turned on the video to torture the bomb freak. From this, we know that the mission target is the black-cloaked man, and that he can send out information regardless of the limitations of the world law.” As Huan Zixu spoke, Director Ha constantly scratched the bars of its cage. 

“World law?” Zhen Li, who had been through comparatively few levels, had never heard of this concept. 

“Nothing to do with you. You only need to answer questions,” Huan Zixu said coldly. “If you aren’t lying, then we levelers can’t defeat the mission target at all. Why would the System send us?” 

“Huh, that’s right!” Zhen Li was thoughtful. “The great master is so awesome. The Clearing League’s head has only passed two hundred some levels, the great master passed 3,841, and he can absorb our Systems. Why would the System think a useless bunch like us could kill the great master?” 

“3,841 levels?” Hearing this number, Huan Zixu’s hair stood on end, and Director Ha, who hadn’t known anything about this, also stopped scratching its cage, raising its ears and listening blankly. 

“Yes.” For Zhen Li, who had only passed four levels, any number over ten was large. He was indifferent. 

“Do you know what that number means?” Huan Zixu grabbed Zhen Li. “Even fifteen years ago, before the System weakened, the highest known number of levels cleared was under a thousand. How could there be someone who cleared 3,841? What kind of person is he?”  

Relying on willpower to twist around the metal face mask, Yuan Luori struggled to get himself space to holler on behalf of his idol, “That’s because the great master is the only clearer! You can’t kill him!” 

The clearer? Director Ha’s ears quivered fiercely. Its IQ was a little higher than Yuan Luori’s. It understood what it meant that the target of the System’s mission was the clearer.  

The target of the final mission, whom the Clearing League was going through innumerable hardships to kill, was actually the only clearer. If you would still be hunted and killed after clearing, then what was the point of them risking their lives to pass levels? 

Huan Zixu, on the other hand, wasn’t very astonished. He had guessed long ago that the so-called clearing mission had to be a trap. This answer resolved many of his doubts.  

He didn’t say so. He quietly sat cross-legged on the floor, deep in thought. 

Feng Kui, hugging his knees, sat down next to Huan Zixu, looking at him in concern. 

Soon, Huan Zixu issued a conclusion. “Ascending grades and passing levels through traditional means, it’s absolutely impossible to clear. Our power is given to us by the System, and the System can take it away at any time. No matter how powerful, we still can’t defeat the System. The clearer must have used some means to weaken the System to bring about the change fifteen years ago. After fifteen years of rehabilitation, the System issued the clearing mission, but it didn’t tell us that the mission target was the only clearer…

“The System was never counting on us to be able to kill the clearer, it was sending us on a suicide mission!” 

“Is that so?” Zhen Li said blankly. 

“How can you two not have come to that conclusion when you know he’s the clearer?” Huan Zixu was having a hard time understanding it. 

“Well…” Zhen and Yuan looked at each other helplessly. 

The husky in the cage, however, jumped twice. It had just found and guessed it, but it couldn’t talk! 

“I’m pretty slow, but…since that’s the System’s plot, and we’re all victims, why don’t you do like we did, surrender and pay allegiance to the great master, listen to his commands?” Zhen Li advised. “The great master is a very gentle person.” 

Huan Zixu did in fact have plans to ally with the mission target, but he didn’t want to be anyone’s subordinate. 

“Why would I trust the judgment of you two idiots?” Huan Zixu said coldly. “All you have to do is act according to my orders.” 

“I won’t obey you!” Yuan Luori said obstinately. 

“Your will means nothing when faced with me.” Huan Zixu laughed lightly. 

He waved his hand in the air, and four one yuan coins appeared in his palm out of nowhere. 

When Huan Zixu produced the coins, Feng Kui moved. He released the restraints on Zhen and Yuan and let the four coins smoothly roll into their hands, two coins each. 

One coin was to change the “impression” of Feng and Huan coming here, the other was a preparation for hunting the clearer. 

After dropping the coins, Feng Kui lightly tapped on the wall, guarding Huan Zixu with one large arm. He opened a door, and the two of them left silently, leaving behind the husky that had seen everything. 

Huan Zixu hadn’t paid attention to an ordinary dog that didn’t even understand human speech, and he certainly wouldn’t do anything to a “devoted protector” of a dog. 

After the two of them left, Zhen Li squeezed a coin in each hand, shook his head, and said, “Weird, why was I staying at the studio tonight? Was I planning to steal one of Yuan Luori’s instant noodles while he was asleep?” 

“What did you say?” Yuan Luori, who had lost his memories from just now, grabbed Zhen Li by the neck. “I thought there was a package of noodles missing. So it was you!” 

The two of them grappled. The anti-slip grips on Yuan Luori’s glasses were very useful. They didn’t fall off no matter how they were hit, but he didn’t notice that there was anything the matter with the anti-slip grips. 

Only the husky, which had seen through everything, banged against the cage. It was very frustrating not to be able to talk!

After their fight, Zhen Li and Yuan Luori fell asleep right on the floor of the studio. Zhen Li woke up at 7 AM and felt around in his pocket for his phone. Unexpectedly, he sent Yu Hua a message: You’re working overtime today. Go to a warehouse outside the city to pick up some clothes for me. 

He also attached the address of a warehouse. 

Yu Hua, who had experienced another sleepless night after Xiao You had left, read Zhen Li’s tone, which sounded like it belonged to a real boss, and raised his eyebrows. He took a screenshot of the message and posted it in the work group with the comment: Oh? 

Yuan Luori, who had woken up at the same time, dimly posted in the group: Oh what? The boss is telling you to go, so go! 

Yu Hua sat up among the wreckage of decaying rose petals. His face cold, he responded: @Lian Yufan, do you perhaps have some orders, too? 

The innocent Lian Yufan, who understood everything and had been wrongly attacked, answered: ….No. 

Lian Yufan raised the phone and said to the Protectors who had already put on their nanotech masks and fully equipped themselves, “I know where the new Destroyers are operating.”  

“Isn’t it just Zhen Li telling his employee to work overtime? Why are you so certain?” Luo Huai said doubtfully. He didn’t want to start a conversation with Lian Yufan, but this was such an obvious questionable point, and none of the others were calling it into question. It was very strange! 

Lian Yufan and You Zhengping’s squads, which enjoyed following the studio’s livestreams, all looked woodenly at Luo Huai. Cen Xiao kindly explained, “Zhen Li and Yuan Luori dared to act like they were in charge towards Yu Hua, so they must have been brainwashed.” 

Luo Huai: “???” 

---

Author's Note

Yu Hua: Ever since encountering Huan Zixu and Feng Kui, I seem to be having trouble with my hearing. Zhen Li, Yuan Luori, who were you two just ordering around? I didn’t hear clearly. 

Zhen Li & Yuan Luori: Are we going to die when we’re clear-headed again? Life is so short, boo-hoo…