After exiting the space, Gu Zhan didn’t immediately contact Yang Lin and the others. Instead, he first took a shower.
His body, after this period of training, was already quite different from before. Not only were his muscles firmer, and the lines of his abdominal muscles more pronounced, but his skin also had become more radiant and shiny, almost blindingly white under the light.
He stripped off his clothes and stood in front of the bathroom mirror, carefully observing his body.
The good news was that, after manipulating the sun within the star map watch, the energy that had nowhere to go in his body was finally exhausted. The bad news was that a golden line had appeared on his lower abdomen.
The line was peculiar; it was asymmetrical on both sides. One side looked like it had wings, while the other side had an inward curve, transforming into a jumble of incomprehensible lines.
What was even more troublesome was that the line dragged along a long “tail.”
It trailed down along the muscles of his lower abdomen, disappearing into a dense patch of hair.
Gu Zhan: “……”
This was the place where Mo Tuo had helped him gather energy.
What on earth had this monster done to his body?
Gu Zhan moved a little but felt nothing unusual.
However, it was precisely this lack of sensation that made him feel even more dangerous.
Having something new on his body that he was unaware of—wasn't that dangerous?
Gu Zhan rubbed the line; it neither hurt nor itched.
He could only temporarily abandon his research on this thing and stepped into the shower.
The warm water poured down on him, relieving his fatigue, relaxing his muscles, making him realize that he had really come out of the instance.
After washing up, Gu Zhan contacted Yang Lin and the others.
It seemed they had been waiting for a long time; less than five minutes after sending the message, there was a knock on the door of Gu Zhan's house.
Gu Zhan was still wearing a bathrobe, and his hair was damp.
But the knocking was urgent, and he didn’t pay it much mind as he directly went to open the door.
Standing at the front was Sang Yue, who looked Gu Zhan up and down before letting out a whistle and walking in unceremoniously: “Thanks for the hospitality.”
Gu Zhan: “……”
Yang Lin followed closely behind. She was initially a bit shy, but Sang Yue was so bold and casual that it seemed to have rubbed off on her. She smiled awkwardly at Gu Zhan: “Thanks for the hospitality!” and also stepped inside.
Behind them were Yu Yezhou, whose expression was hard to describe, and Xu Yu, who had a blank expression.
Yu Yezhou walked up to Gu Zhan and adjusted his bathrobe, which had opened quite a bit, and whispered, “Bro, maintain a bit of male decorum.”
Then he also went inside.
Gu Zhan: “……”
Unexpectedly, he genuinely didn’t realize his robe had loosened.
But none of them bothered to be polite; not one of them said to close the door so he could tidy up.
Fine, he wouldn’t maintain male decorum.
Gu Zhan didn’t care much, dried his hair with a towel, and went to change into normal clothes.
When he came out, everyone was already on high alert.
“Speak, what happened?”
Sang Yue was the first to ask.
Gu Zhan raised an eyebrow and began recounting everything that had happened in the instance, sticking to the parts that didn’t involve any spoilers.
When they heard that he had actually spoken face-to-face with the monster posing as the BOSS, their expressions were all filled with shock.
“As for the live stream being blocked, that should have nothing to do with me,” he finished, and the room fell silent as everyone stared at him, their expressions varying.
After a while, Sang Yue suddenly said, “So aside from clearing the instance, what else did you do with that monster?”
Her question was strange, and Gu Zhan’s reaction was even stranger.
He fell silent.
The watch was Gu Zhan’s personal item and personal power, and he certainly wouldn’t divulge that to others.
He only said that he had uncovered the monster’s scheme and achieved the HE ending.
As for absorbing the energy of the Sun God…
He certainly didn’t mention that.
Being questioned by Sang Yue, he strangely recalled the scene at that time.
He had been so eager to solve the instance that he hadn’t noticed how odd Mo Tuo’s speech had been… and the process of absorbing energy had also been peculiar…
The more he thought about it, the more awkward he felt. The moment he fell silent, Sang Yue and Yang Lin’s eyes lit up.
Gu Zhan seemed to see the word “gossip” in their gazes.
Especially Sang Yue, who knew Gu Zhan’s orientation.
Clearing his throat a couple of times, he avoided the gazes of the two women and said in a low voice, “I didn’t do anything, but his appearance in the instance must be against the rules. Maybe his personality is strange, and he doesn’t want others to see his true form, so he blocked the live stream.”
Sang Yue pondered and said, “He doesn’t want others to see, but he willingly shows himself in front of you.”
Gu Zhan: “……”
What’s wrong with girls nowadays?
Yu Yezhou sighed and said, “This matter, I really don’t know whether it’s good or bad.”
“What’s the big deal?” Sang Yue didn’t seem to care much. “When the ship reaches the bridge, it will naturally straighten out. That monster isn’t afraid; why should you be afraid?”
Gu Zhan replied, “Indeed, he has been watching me for quite some time now.”
“Ah?” Yu Yezhou was taken aback. “That monster has been watching you the whole time?”
“Yeah…” Gu Zhan considered for a moment and said, “Since I entered this game’s first instance.”
“……”
The first instance after entering the game.
Yu Yezhou couldn’t help but recall that live stream about the mental hospital. His expression was somewhat strained: “Is it because you blew up his hospital? Since you left, that instance hasn’t reopened.”
“Right, right, right.” Yang Lin nodded repeatedly. “Are you sure the monster is targeting you on its own and not that the system sent it to monitor you?”
Gu Zhan replied nonchalantly, “It could be both.”
Yang Lin really couldn’t understand this complicated web of love and hate. She said, “As long as you’re okay. We were all scared when we saw your livestream go black.”
The others nodded in agreement, looking visibly shaken.
Even someone like Gu Zhan, with his personality, could sense that the atmosphere was off. He paused and said something he would have never said before: “I’m sorry for worrying you.”
“It’s okay, as long as you’re back,” Yang Lin smiled. “Now our guild can apply successfully, so we won’t get disbanded before we even start.”
---
Gu Zhan rested at home for a day, and the next day he was dragged by Yu Yezhou to the guild application office in Chun Bai Cheng to submit their guild application.
In the monster world, the review speed was much faster than in the human world. In less than ten minutes, they received the approval receipt for their guild application.
Gu Zhan didn’t really understand why Yu Yezhou wanted to establish a guild when clearing instances was already mentally exhausting. However, since he usually didn’t participate much in instances, he probably had plenty of time and points to deal with such matters.
Soon, they acquired a dedicated guild building, but they didn’t cancel their rented room in the bar and occasionally still visited.
On the day they received the guild building, Yu Yezhou sent Gu Zhan a message, saying that if he wanted, he could move into the guild building since it had many rooms, which would save him from paying rent in the Hive.
However, Gu Zhan didn’t lack points, and being accustomed to the Hive, he wasn’t keen on communal living, so he politely declined Yu Yezhou’s invitation.
Yu Yezhou and the others began recruiting new members.
This wasn’t too difficult, as joining a guild came with various benefits, and since their guild was newly established, there weren’t many application requirements.
Gu Zhan only attended the first day; he usually wasn’t good at such tedious tasks, especially when they involved socializing.
In “Beyond the Rules,” he seemed to find his niche—dealing with monsters in instances.
Soon, he felt restless in the Hive and was eager to jump into the next instance.
Yu Yezhou was quite concerned about his state, believing he was going into instances too frequently.
“This isn’t good for your health; you should really rest for a while longer.”
He sounded like a worried mother, while Sang Yue raised an eyebrow and said, “Let him go; he’s eager to meet someone.”
“Meet who?” Yu Yezhou asked, confused.
Yang Lin and Sang Yue stood nearby, laughing.
Sang Yue then grabbed Yu Yezhou’s shoulder and pulled him aside. “Stay out of other people’s business.”
“Hey?? How did it become meddling??” Yu Yezhou was bewildered as he was dragged away.
Yang Lin then approached Gu Zhan and said, “Actually, we’re all confident in your abilities, but you still need to be careful and stay safe.”
“Yeah.” Gu Zhan also felt that going into instances so frequently wasn’t ideal, so he said, “This time, I’ll choose a lower difficulty level. Hmm… I’ll go for an A-level instance.”
Yang Lin’s expression immediately became complicated.
For some people, an A-level instance might be something they could never actively step into, but for Gu Zhan, it was just an easy game for transition.
She squinted her eyes and smiled helplessly. “Anyway, just be careful.”
---
Before heading into the instance, Gu Zhan checked the watch again.
The sun had returned to normal.
After some time adjusting, Sun Jingqiu could walk normally under the sunlight—this sun’s power came from Gu Zhan and originated from the same source as Sun Jingqiu; it wouldn’t harm the monsters living in the Space.
Xiao Xiu however wasn’t fond of the sunlight and ran back to soak in the river.
Nonetheless, the sunshine brought a lot of life; not only did the vegetables in the fields grow, but the plants in the flower beds by the roadside also turned much greener.
Bored, Xiao Xiu lay in the water and told Gu Zhan, “You should go check by that statue; it seems to be throwing a tantrum.”
It was indeed strange for a statue to throw a tantrum, but Gu Zhan went over anyway.
Upon arriving, he found the black cat nestled in the statue’s arms. The statue had changed position to sit, its fish tail spread out in the fountain pool below, while its eyes were closed, and the corners of its lips were slightly pursed, looking quite displeased.
Noticing Gu Zhan’s arrival, the black cat lifted its head and meowed at him.
Gu Zhan observed closely and realized the black cat was trapped in the statue’s embrace and couldn’t escape.
He couldn’t quite understand. “Isn’t this cat also you? Why are you getting mad at yourself?”
The statue, after all, wasn’t Mo Tuo himself and couldn’t respond to Gu Zhan’s question.
After watching for a while, Gu Zhan felt that it was too sunny in this place after the sun came out. So he brought in a shade canopy and had Sun Jingqiu and Xiao Xiu help set it up over the statue’s head.
Although the canopy provided shade, its style clashed completely with the statue; the bright red and green colors were painful to Xiao Xiu’s eyes.
She asked Gu Zhan, “How about we build a pavilion here? It might look nicer.”
She mainly thought that No. 2 wouldn’t like such a practical style. If he saw his sculpture sitting under this kind of canopy, he might just explode.
The mere thought of No. 2 going berserk made her uneasy.
However, Gu Zhan replied, “No need, just like this; it suits him best.”
There was certainly a bit of personal grudge involved.
Xiao Xiu had no choice but to keep quiet.
Well, it seemed best not to meddle in their affairs.
Comments