Chapter 5
[Congratulations! Newbie Guidance Mission Complete!
Description: As a newcomer, you’ve successfully attracted someone’s attention. This is both an opportunity and a danger for you. 428 has noticed your presence. Where will your relationship ultimately lead?
Mission Rating: A
Rewards: Officially join a faction—the Third Eye; Assistant Researcher qualification granted; Faction Shop unlocked; Faction Reputation Points unlocked; Skill Exchange unlocked; Save Slot 2 unlocked]
A string of notifications sounded in Tang Xiao’s mind. He kept his composure. After leaving the kitchen, he was taken to the medical room, where they healed the arm he’d been told would need amputation in just ten minutes.
Seeing Tang Xiao’s puzzled expression, the doctor smiled. “If you were being treated outside, amputation wouldn’t be surprising. But our medical technology is far more advanced than what they have out there. Besides, Dr. Bard ordered Level Three medical treatment for you. You’re in luck.”
“Oh, and take this. Starting today, you’re an official member of the Third Eye. You can check your various permissions on your wristband.”
Tang Xiao took the black wristband and put it on. After thanking the doctor, he left.
Back in his dorm, Tang Xiao skimmed the information on his wristband. It was much more detailed than Babbit’s earlier introduction, covering which areas were off-limits, the general layout of the research institute, its public facilities, and the thing he was most interested in right now.
The internal trading platform.
There was no concept of money in the research institute, only points. Points could be exchanged for almost anything here, from equipment and reagents to lab mice, weapons, and precious metals. Everyone’s monthly salary was deposited into their account in points.
This was probably the “Faction Shop” mentioned in the system notification.
The higher someone’s position, the more points they received each month. New assistant researchers like Tang Xiao only got 1,000 points a month, though room and board were free.
The heat-ray gun he’d used before cost 800 points to redeem, while one use of Level Three medical treatment cost 500.
An electronic prompt sounded: “You have a new points transfer.”
Tang Xiao froze and hurriedly checked his balance. To his surprise, it had jumped from 0 to 3,000.
The transfer details read:
[A reward for discovering a new research project. —Bard]
Tang Xiao beamed and immediately redeemed a heat-ray gun. After hesitating for a moment, he ordered a heat bomb as well, then saved the remaining points for emergencies.
Then Tang Xiao opened his personal status panel.
[Name: Tang Xiao
Gender: Male
Occupation: Assistant Researcher
Faction: Third Eye
Strength: 40 (You probably lose at arm wrestling a lot)
Agility: 45 (You can survive by tripping others while running for your life)
Constitution: 38 (A college student who dies easily)
Intelligence/Insight: 63 (Smart enough to get into a top university)
Luck: 70 (You know how to be born into a good family)
Charm: 69 (Just your average departmental heartthrob)
Core Disciplines:
Biology: Lv. 0 (56/100)
Interdisciplinary Studies:
Biochemistry: Lv. 0 (10/100)
Biophysics: Lv. 0
(0/100)... (Locked)
Faction Reputation: Indifferent
Favorability Earned: 10 (Click to view details)
Evaluation: One ordinary person among eight billion]
Tang Xiao: “...What’s with this evaluation?”
He fiddled with the panel in bewilderment, then discovered that the skill exchange mentioned in the system notification let him exchange earned favorability for subject experience. One favorability point could be exchanged for 10 points of subject experience, but only the little monster’s favorability counted as a full point. Everyone else’s counted as 0.5.
There was no way to exchange for attribute points. Tang Xiao guessed those might come from special missions or items.
Tang Xiao opened the details and saw that of the 10 points, 428 had contributed 3, while the other 7 came from the people in the laboratory. One of them, Rocky, had generously contributed 3.
So it really was a dating sim. Would there be other routes later?
Tang Xiao shook his head, deciding to look into it later. As for exchanging points, he still hadn’t decided what to spend his favorability on, so he set it aside for now.
By then, it was already late in the game. Tang Xiao checked the time and promptly chose to log off and get some rest.
When he logged back in, it was already morning in the game, and work was officially starting for the day. Tang Xiao got ready according to the usual routine, buttoning up a shirt and pulling on black trousers. As soon as he reached the door, he saw the weapons he’d ordered last night delivered in a box. He unboxed them and took them along.
“Hey, Tang. Morning.”
A stranger’s voice suddenly called out from behind him. A hand landed on his shoulder, and when Tang Xiao turned, he saw the blond man he’d met before. He thought his name was Dexter Rocky.
Rocky was a handsome young man, his blond hair gleaming like sunshine. Even his eyelashes were golden. He seemed about Tang Xiao’s age, with a hint of baby fat on his cheeks, looking as if he’d only recently left boyhood behind.
When Tang Xiao didn’t answer for a while, the blond man’s smile gradually faded. He drew his hand back. “Sorry. Can I call you Tang?”
Thinking of the favorability points he’d contributed, Tang Xiao nodded.
Rocky visibly relaxed, his bright smile returning. “Thanks. I thought a genius like you would be harder to get along with. Guess I was wrong.”
“A genius? Me?” Tang Xiao froze, then frowned. “Where did you hear I was a genius?”
How come he didn’t know?
And judging by the system’s evaluation, the attribute points, and the knowledge system, pretty much anyone here could wipe the floor with him.
“Because of your condition... Ah, you wanted to keep it private, didn’t you? Sorry.”
Tang Xiao didn’t say anything. He just frowned and stared at him.
Rocky’s back prickled under his gaze. He raised his hands in surrender. “Actually, I figured it out myself. Don’t worry, I haven’t told anyone. This kind of condition wouldn’t show up in a physical, and it won’t be listed in your file either.” Though the others could probably guess.
What was he even talking about?
“I’m not sick,” Tang Xiao said.
“Yeah, yeah. I understand.” Rocky mimed zipping his lips. “I won’t tell anyone.”
Tang Xiao: “...No, I mean, how come I don’t know I’m sick?”
It was obvious this guy wouldn’t listen to an explanation. Tang Xiao merely twitched his lips and couldn’t be bothered to say more. They’d realize he wasn’t a genius eventually, and the misunderstanding would clear up on its own.
“By the way, why aren’t you wearing glasses today?” Rocky asked, sounding eager. “You were wearing them yesterday, weren’t you?”
“Those weren’t my glasses. I don’t wear glasses,” Tang Xiao said honestly. He wasn’t nearsighted; the glasses he’d picked up yesterday were only to hide where his gaze was directed at a crucial moment. Their lenses had broken anyway, so there was no point wearing them.
At that, Rocky’s hand, which had slipped into his pocket, stiffened. Tang Xiao glanced at him. “What’s wrong?”
Rocky awkwardly pulled a pair of silver-framed glasses from his pocket. “I saw that yours seemed to be broken, so I went out of my way to find an identical pair... You look good in glasses. They suit your vibe.”
Tang Xiao was about to refuse, but Rocky immediately sped up. “Besides, they make you look harder to mess with. Babbit will probably come after you later, and those toadies might make things difficult for you, so...”
Tang Xiao frowned. “Why would Babbit give me a hard time? And how do you know about this?”
Rocky didn’t answer. He just stretched his arm out a little farther and blinked his big, round blue eyes at him pitifully.
He looked a little like the golden retriever next door.
Tang Xiao raised an eyebrow and accepted the glasses without a fuss.
[You have acquired: Non-prescription glasses. Wearing them increases Charm by 5.]
They could increase his stats? Tang Xiao put them on at once.
Seeing Tang Xiao wearing the glasses, Rocky couldn’t help drawing in a slow breath. A trace of fascination flickered in his eyes.
He really hadn’t been wrong.
Tang Xiao was very handsome, born with a pair of beautiful, flirtatious eyes. There was even a tiny mole beneath his right eye. Whenever his gaze shifted, it made whoever he looked at feel like he was gazing at a lover. His friends in real life had once joked that if Tang Xiao did face-cam livestreams, he’d have far more followers by now. But he wasn’t interested.
With his glasses on and the top button of his uniform fastened, the lenses hid those flirtatious eyes, lending him an air of untouchable restraint and coldness that fit the laboratory perfectly. Rocky wasn’t wrong: Tang Xiao looked utterly unapproachable like this.
But Rocky couldn’t help letting his gaze fall on Tang Xiao’s healed arm. His mind was filled with the memory of Tang Xiao’s earlier, disheveled state, his cold exterior shattered. Even the horrific burns on that porcelain-white arm had taken on a strangely cruel beauty.
Ding, ding. Two more favorability points came in. Tang Xiao looked at Rocky strangely, and when he saw him still lost in thought, he snapped his fingers.
“What was your intel?”
Rocky coughed awkwardly, trying to hide his flushed cheeks. “You gave the project a chance to continue, but Babbit had already contacted another laboratory. He never wanted to stay here, and because of you, his plan to jump ship fell through.”
“So, do you think he’ll give you a hard time?”
Tang Xiao: “...” Did this game really have to be so realistic?
Seeing Tang Xiao stay silent, Rocky hurriedly added, “But don’t worry too much. You’re a genius, and Dr. Bard has taken note of you. No matter how unreasonable Babbit gets, he won’t make a direct move against you. As long as you can stay in the laboratory, he won’t be able to keep you down for long. It’ll only be for a little while. Just don’t do anything rash. See how things go later.”
But he really wasn’t a genius... Tang Xiao sighed silently. He said nothing, only nodded to show he’d heard.
Before long, the two of them arrived at the laboratory. Just as Rocky had described on the way, Babbit might not look like much, but he was practically the lab’s little boss, with several research grunts under him. The moment he saw Tang Xiao, his expression darkened. The newcomers, who’d been discussing things animatedly, gradually fell quiet, not daring to breathe too loudly.
Babbit put on a fake smile. “You’re already late on your first day? Newcomers these days really are...”
“It’s still ten minutes before seven, according to the email,” Tang Xiao shot back casually. He wasn’t going to let Babbit push him around.
Babbit’s expression darkened. “Since you’re in this laboratory, I decide how it’s run. If I say you’re late, then you’re late. Unfortunately, all the workstations are full, so there’s no place for you. Until another one opens up, you’ll be doing odd jobs around the lab and collecting biological samples from 428.”
Rocky immediately realized what Babbit was trying to do and instinctively glanced at Tang Xiao.
The young man pressed his lips together, his handsome brows furrowing. The cold air around him was oppressive. Rocky’s eye for aesthetics wasn’t wrong: Tang Xiao already looked like someone you didn’t want to mess with when he frowned, and the glasses only added an icy, unapproachable edge.
But Babbit wasn’t afraid. In fact, he was looking forward to seeing Tang Xiao put up a fight.
After what had happened that night, everyone present should have understood Tang Xiao’s potential. But having potential and being able to realize it were two different things. After all, his listed education only went as far as graduate school. (Game setting)
The Third Eye could also help people advance their academic credentials. As long as senior scholars here agreed to take someone on as a student, that person could enter the talent development program.
But first, they had to show enough potential or capture the scholars’ interest. That meant producing results.
In the research world, papers and results were ultimately what mattered. No matter how high someone’s IQ was, without achievements it was just an impressive number. And the research world had never been short of highly intelligent geniuses.
Clearly, Babbit didn’t even intend to give Tang Xiao a place to conduct experiments. He wasn’t going to give him any chance to stand out and planned to suppress him harshly.
What worried Rocky most at that moment was Tang Xiao’s displeasure. The Third Eye organization was far more ruthless, and its hierarchy far stricter, than most people could imagine. If Tang Xiao resisted any further, Babbit would have grounds to punish him, and no one could fault him for it.
Tang Xiao stood silently in place. Just as everyone thought he was about to resist, the young man looked up and calmly pushed his glasses up with his index finger. “I understand.”
He was accepting it?
Rocky stared, and Babbit was taken aback too. Then he frowned. “What are you standing around for? Go wash the beakers.”
Tang Xiao did as he was told, one task after another, expressionless and without the slightest resistance. Babbit had been hoping to provoke him, but now had no opening. He clicked his tongue irritably and turned to get the other researchers moving.
While the experiment was underway, Rocky quietly sidled up to Tang Xiao when Babbit wasn’t looking. “I thought you’d fight back. I’m glad you didn’t.”
Perhaps the impression from the previous day had been too strong. To deal with the escaped test subject, Tang Xiao had even been willing to sacrifice his own arm. With that kind of willingness to trade injury for survival, everyone had thought he was a hard man who’d rather break than bend.
Rocky hadn’t expected him to have so much patience and cunning, and couldn’t help seeing him in a new light.
As the favorability notification sounded beside him, Tang Xiao remained expressionless.
Actually, the reason was very simple.
Was it possible that, as an undergraduate, a sophomore, and someone who occasionally skipped class...
he’d give himself away the moment he started doing experiments?
If anything, Babbit refusing to let him do experiments had accidentally helped preserve his image as a “genius researcher,” even if that image existed only in other people’s imaginations.
“But what are you going to do later?” Rocky asked anxiously. “Babbit will definitely make you collect biological samples. He’s obviously trying to mess with you.”
Everyone knew there was only one biological sample the laboratory needed to collect right now: 428, with whom Tang Xiao had just had a “score to settle.”
Tang Xiao said nothing. Time passed as they worked in silence, and just as Rocky had said, Babbit wasn’t about to let him off so easily.
“In that case, you can go collect some fresh acidic material.” Babbit shoved a test tube and sampling equipment into the young man’s hands, his smile laced with malice. He patted Tang Xiao on the shoulder. “Good luck. You managed to seriously wound that monster yesterday, so I’m sure you can handle it again with our help.”
He was sure the monster inside would give a warm “welcome” to the one who’d hurt it so badly yesterday.
Even if Tang Xiao happened to die in there, no one could say much about it. It would just be an accident.
Tang Xiao’s lips curled into a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Of course, Mr. Babbit. Speaking of which, Dr. Bard sent me an email yesterday specifically to thank me. He said he’d have dinner with me. I wonder when Dr. Bard might be free.”
Seeing Babbit’s expression darken, Tang Xiao’s smile became much more genuine. After putting on the specialized protective suit, he walked into the buffer zone of his own accord. The open door inside was like a sea monster opening its maw, facing the deep sea’s darkness and stillness.
He couldn’t help taking a deep breath. His fingers trembled involuntarily, as if his body had already absorbed the imprint of his previous runs and could smell the predator’s presence.
The lingering tingling sensation of being fused with, and invaded by, something still clung to his nerves.
He knew it was in there: that blood-red, threadlike fungus, the mad dog that wouldn’t let go, the monster obsessed with devouring him. It was the hardest “stage” he’d tackled so far, the boss he understood least.
But players never back down.
From the very first time he spoke up to save this little monster, Tang Xiao had known they would have to face each other again sooner or later. But he hadn’t run away then, and he wouldn’t run away now.
Even if this wasn’t a type of game he was familiar with, all he had to do was treat it like a “boss” in a game.
Use affection to conceal the blade’s edge, and hide the killing intent beneath his words.
He was a player. No matter how much effort it took, no matter how many times he had to reload, he would “hunt” this monster down.
Then, once he’d completed the main quest, he’d make sure to give the monster a taste of revenge.
Tang Xiao curled his lips, lifted his leg, and walked inside.
His back gradually disappeared into the monster’s shadow.
Save Slot 2 overwritten.