TN –
This is the 2nd out of 10 extra chapters. Thanks to “Pls ignore me”
Shi Yuebai confirmed that the speed of accepting the hidden instance was much slower than Xu Yintang’s. At least, after meticulously reading through the excessively lengthy instance instructions that were so dry that even a dog wouldn’t want to read them and engaging in extremely complex inner struggles, he finally, laden with guilt stemming from succumbing to his own desires, ultimately chose to confirm acceptance.
His initial reaction was to refuse. Leaving aside the highly uncertain nature of the hidden instance itself, the 0% clearance rate combined with the mandatory requirement of being bound to teammates without the possibility of substitution provided him with enough reasons to choose refusal.
Shi Yuebai wasn’t worried about dying in the instance. If he had been concerned about that, he wouldn’t have maintained such a high frequency of gaming in this intense environment. But when he couldn’t guarantee that he could protect Xu Yintang a hundred percent in any situation, he feared that possibility, however small.
Yet, at the same time, there were whispers of temptation from demons in the dark corners of his soul, urging him not to miss this exceptional opportunity.
Hidden instances were exceedingly rare, and he had only heard of them but never experienced one himself. According to the system’s explanation, a hidden instance consists of multiple tasks independent of regular instances, all progressing in the same timeline within the world. As a side instance, it wouldn’t affect the normal functioning of regular instances.
For instance, the [Grey Side Job] instance was composed of multiple ‘side job’ tasks assigned by their ‘boss,’ Wang Laowu. Until they cleared or failed these tasks, the world wouldn’t reset, functioning like a normal world.
Moreover, once they choose to accept the hidden instance, this instance’s world would be locked. Unless they cleared or failed, no other players would receive the [Immortal’s Burial Ground] prerequisite instance, and no other players would enter this world.
Players would stay in the instance world short-term, after completing a task, they would return to reality. But upon entering this instance, they would be two ordinary part-time employees in this world, with an address, a past, perhaps even living together and having three meals a day, like two real people.
With no other players or disturbances from the real world, only he and Xu Yintang existed.
If he seized this opportunity, he wouldn’t just be one of Xu Yintang’s several ordinary teammates in every instance, nor would he be one among the many unnamed children sent out of hospitals. He would be special, unique, and closer to him than anyone else.
Shi Yuebai couldn’t resist that possibility. Countless times, he had crawled out of certain death relying on his longing for that possibility. Thus, even a slight imagination of it caused his heart to feel like it was covered in thorns, painful enough to bloom roses.
Responding to the half-hearted push from his half-soul body, Shi Yuebai felt his soul plummet off a cliff as he confirmed his decision.
—His malicious yet cunning half-soul body asked him, which one would Xu Yintang choose?
The answer was without any suspense.
Xu Yintang wouldn’t think so much; accepting the challenge was as natural as breathing.
By the time Shi Yuebai finally made his decision, Xu Yintang had already been waiting for what seemed like half an eternity in the world frozen in time. He had pacified the minor emotions of Third Flora, mediated the internal conflicts of the little ones, and had gotten bored enough to start playing with the tentacle tips of Little Darling.
Xu Yintang absentmindedly pinched Second Treasure’s little paw pads before hearing the system reminder that the teammates were bound. The next second, the frozen time began flowing again. In front of them, Wang Laowu seemed to have heard their affirmative answer, laughing heartily while patting his chest with an air of a big brother, “You can trust me! With Old Wang, there’s meat to eat! Hold onto your phones; if there’s work in the future, I’ll call you.”
“Hey, let’s not just stand here foolishly. Let’s go, let’s go! Uncle Wang will treat you to something nice! Let me tell you, the restaurant I booked is extraordinary. The head chef is…” accompanied by Wang Laowu’s enthusiastic chatter about the renowned chef and the authentic delicacies, the entire world gradually faded and returned to Xu Yintang’s familiar instance, departing from the interface.
[Instance – Immortal’s Burial Ground: Cleared.]
[Instance Difficulty: D]
[Base Points: 10,000]
[Players Clearing: 2]
[Points Obtained for Clearance: 20,000]
[Overall Player Performance Rating: A]
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
[Points Obtained for Overall Rating: 10,000]
[Hidden Ending Achieved: Grey Side Job]
[Points Obtained for Hidden Ending: 30,000]
[Player First to Achieve this Ending, Points Earned: 20,000]
[Post-Ending Conversation: After this tomb-robbing task, you and your teammate feel good about each other and decide to partner up, joining Wang Laowu’s part-time agency. This agency has a wide range of business operations, including exorcisms, grave robbing, tracking, and guarding, as long as the payment is good, there’s no job Wang Laowu won’t dare take.]
[Boss Zhao made a fortune by selling the burial goods from the tomb and transferred the money to you and your teammate’s accounts as agreed before. Your outstanding performance in the task left a deep impression on him. With his vigorous promotion in the circle, more big business opportunities are believed to come your way.]
[One day, you receive a call from Wang Laowu again…]
[Current Part-Time Job: Tomb Raider, Completed]
[Points Earned for Employment: 200,000]
[Players in this Game collectively earned 280,000 game points.]
[You will return to reality in 3 seconds, countdown: 3, 2, 1…]
[Next game countdown: 13 days, 6 hours, 6 minutes.]
[Sincerely looking forward to our next encounter! Wishing you health and happiness!]
…
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*Sigh*…
Xu Yintang pinched the nape of Second Treasure’s neck, letting it lick but not bite when opening its mouth. He then played with its furry tail ball for a while, feeling a bit disappointed and melancholic, closed his eyes, and entered the game, preparing to search for Shi Yuebai’s nickname to add him as a friend.
However, Shi Yuebai was much more proactive than Xu Yintang—maybe because he wasn’t particularly fond of lamb or donkey meat. As soon as the interface opened, Xu Yintang saw a friend request from ‘Blueon,’ with a note drawing a seemingly cute cat with symbols.
Probably looks like this ↓
__ __
／＞ フ
| _ _ l
／ ミ＿xノ
/ |
/ ヽ ?
│ | | |
／￣| | | |
| (￣ヽ＿_ヽ_)__)
＼二つ
Xu Yintang couldn’t help but smile and accepted Shi Yuebai’s friend request. The next moment, a message from Shi Yuebai popped up so quickly that it made one wonder if he had been waiting right in front of the friend request.
Blueon: [ (^ㅇωㅇ^)ฅ～☆ ]
Blueon: How’s your health? Feeling any discomfort? Coming out of instances can be quite stressful on the body. If possible, it’s better to rest for a while haha
Blueon: I just thought to mention it; you decide based on your situation. My friends always say I’m like an old mom, worrying about unnecessary things… [ (￣▽￣;) ]
DrinkingSugar: No worries.
DrinkingSugar: I was actually planning to add you as a friend and then take a break. Didn’t expect you to be quicker.
Xu Yintang pondered for a moment and sent a [ (=^･ω･^=) ].
When in doubt about easing the atmosphere, using cat emojis never goes wrong. – Fro, the self-proclaimed King of Emojis (self-proclaimed).
Blueon: Hmm, as long as I didn’t bother you.
Blueon: I’m also planning to lie down for a while. I’ve been running instances continuously before, starting to get a headache. Still have a meeting at the office later.
Blueon: [Life isn’t easy, Casey sighs/jpg]
The upper-half-large-not-small Casey cat in the emoji made a humanized sighing expression, appearing very adorable. Xu Yintang immediately added it to his collection of emojis, completely unaware that while Shi Yuebai was chatting with him, he was also searching for suitable emojis in conversations with others.
Shi Yuebai not only found the extensive Casey cat series made by the dedicated members of the Detergent Club among the vast and diverse cat emojis but also spotted his pixelated figure repeatedly.
Especially [Blueon is watg you/jpg], its frequent appearance in the group made Shi Yuebai seriously question if he had been too gentle and friendly during their training sessions, allowing them to have the energy to be lively in the group, discussing even after finding his ‘White Moonlight’ to send this set of emojis as a welcoming gift or something.
[Stain Removal without Residue (5)]
[Group Admin “Blueon” posted a group announcement: Everyone, training at 8 tonight.]
[Blueon: Those absent will have separate additional training with me.]
The moment the training notice was out, lamentation spread everywhere.
Regarding Xu Qi finding a crucial clue about ‘White Moonlight,’ which should have made Shi Yuebai want to give him a big reward or something, had been overlooked directly by Shi Yuebai, who was bound to ‘White Moonlight.’
As for Xu Qi, just seeing the glaringly crimson ‘training’ made his heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys all ache as if they were rupturing. Shi Yuebai’s training was brutal; it was either hitting until near death or hitting so hard psychologically that each training session painted a vivid stroke of dark shadows.
Plus, with Shi Yuebai, the Liver Emperor, working non-stop in instances, while their Detergent Club had a variety of healing potions, a bottle would instantly resurrect and even allow for another round of training. Seeking survival without success and dying without the ability to die, it was a more terrifying human hell than the scariest instance they had ever experienced.
No, he couldn’t just succumb to fate like this! He had to actively save himself!
Feeling his handsome face, which had only just recovered from the black-and-blue panda eyes a few days ago, Xu Qi didn’t hesitate to virtually kneel and firmly grasp the other side of the chat box, expressing a desperate plea for help, tears and all, to Xiao Qing.
Brother-in-law is a scumbag: ?
Brother-in-law is a scumbag: Suggest treating your illness if you’re sick, dear.
Brother-in-law is a scumbag: Happiness potions are just a few points; why save them so much?
There Are Two: [ ( ╥ω╥ ) ]
There Are Two: Brother, your words are too biased!
There Are Two: We’re separated by eight hundred rooms from that jerk! We have no blood relations!
There Are Two: We’re upright and honorable young men, what bad intentions could we have!
Brother-in-law is a scumbag: ???
There Are Two: Let me tell you a story about my poor team leader, listen closely to my words!
Brother-in-law is a scumbag: Okay, I’ll buy you a happiness potion, please, just go out the door and turn right, scram!
There Are Two: It all started at that hospital, where childhood friends tied the knot!
There Are Two: Who would have thought that once missed, it couldn’t be found again, and in the blink of an eye, more than ten years have passed!
There Are Two: I beg you to pass that message beyond the clouds, build a magpie bridge, and connect the red thread!
Brother-in-law is a scumbag: …
Xiao Qing really didn’t want to understand, but he painfully realized what Xu Qi was talking about.
The only person who could be called a team leader by Xu Qi must be that Blueon from the Detergent Club. The story of Moon God and his White Moonlight was somewhat of an open secret, and he vaguely heard people mention it, but he didn’t expect it to be related to his newly made good teammate.
Thinking back on both sides’ descriptions of the hospital environment and related stories… some details did seem to match.
Considering Moon God’s consistently good reputation and the abundant resources represented by the Detergent Club, Xiao Qing reluctantly added Xu Qi to the blacklist.
Brother-in-law is a scumbag: I got it, I’ll ask later. But don’t get your hopes up, my friend’s memory isn’t great; they’ve probably forgotten things from over ten years ago.
There Are Two: Brother’s kindness is as heavy as a mountain, willing to pave the way ahead!
There Are Two: [ ╮(╯_╰)╭ ][ ╮(╯_╰)╭ ]
Brother-in-law is a scumbag: Look at my nickname [ ≖‿≖ ]
There Are Two: Okay, got it. I’ll go and break that jerk’s legs for you.
Brother-in-law is a scumbag: I’ll ask for you.
Brother-in-law is a scumbag: Waiting for your response [ ｡^‿^｡ ]
Xu Qi put down the phone and let out a deep sigh.
It seems sacrificing the lackey who’s worlds away and irrelevant to him, just to avoid getting beaten like a dead dog by Shi Yuebai in a sudden fit during training, is the only way to go.
Author’s Note –
Adding a new joyous vacation spot, also known as the Happy Blue Moon Tour [distant gaze].
Xu Qi’s nickname “There Are Two” is a riddle, and the answer should be quite obvious haha.
Hidden instance series as a honeymoon spot sounds pretty romantic ╰(´︶`)╯
Thank you for the chapter and Happy New Year!
My braincells only work in school, is the author saying Xu Yingtang and Xu Qi are related? Are they the same Xu? ヽ(´ー` )┌
Wow, that Wang will take any job.
Thank you for the chapters! ❤❤❤
2nd out of 10th extra chapters right, @oLiveUzer translater r u going to give those reminding 8 chapters today right
I cat wait to read more of them
Happy New Year! Thanks for the update 🤣❤️
Thank you for your translation 💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚💚