Poverty makes me capable of anything.

They all wore dark blue "hats" on their heads.

Player!

Why are all these players gathered here?

Generally speaking, these are the places in a game that attract players to gather.

It could be a quest marker, a monster-hunting area in the wild, a shop, the entrance to a dungeon, or even just an incredibly charismatic NPC...

"Naizi Knight?"

An Ran, with her sharp eyes, suddenly spotted a familiar ID.

The tall young man carrying a sword was talking in a low voice to a female player named Qing Shuang in the crowd.

"Hello, what's going on here?"

Nai-ko Knight suddenly felt a tap on his back.

It's a female voice.

He turned around and was immediately astonished, his mouth agape.

He initially thought it would be a player, but after seeing An Ran's face, he immediately remembered the bizarre and rewarding quest he had done yesterday.

I thought I'd never see this NPC again, but it turns out we were quite destined to meet.

Nai-ko Knight thought to himself.

I wonder if I'll ever be able to get those rewarding missions again.

An Ran was a little annoyed. She had wanted to pat Nai Zi Knight on the shoulder, but the height difference made the action a bit difficult.

Alright, just call them over.

It doesn't matter how it's done.

"We're waiting to run the dungeon!" Qing Shuang said before Nai Zi Knight could even finish her thought.

"Running dungeons?"

An Ran asked in confusion.

Is there a dungeon to farm in this place?

She looked up at the sign at the entrance of the building—"Jiuge".

What is that?

Naizi Knight glanced at An Ran, who looked slightly bewildered, and immediately pulled Qing Shuang aside and whispered, "You can't understand the NPCs who are farming dungeons, can you? I've seen this NPC before, and he seems quite mysterious."

"Oh, I understand." Qing Shuang nodded seriously.

The Knight of the Nai turned to Anran.

An Ran tilted her head in a very "cooperative" manner, and said, "Confused," "Dungeon? What dungeon? What does 'dungeon' mean? I don't understand!"

Three questions.

The Knight of the Necklace was about to explain: "The dungeon is..."

"Knight Boss, what happened?" Three teenagers squeezed through the crowd.

The one asking the question is the "Soul of Chuunibyou" (a person with delusions of grandeur).

This group of people definitely exudes a strong sense of adolescent angst.

That's how it is...

Naiko Knight explained.

The chuunibyou soul nodded: "I see. Actually, we are being tested by Jiuge. If we pass the test, we will have the opportunity to join the Security Department or Jiuge."

"What is Jiuge, and what is the test?" An Ran asked.

"I heard that Jiuge is a special forces unit independent of the Security Department," the chuunibyou soul explained earnestly. "The test is to complete a mission. The people of Jiuge have somehow obtained a very high-tech device. As long as you wear a special headband, you can enter a virtual world to take the test. We haven't participated yet, but those who have participated say it's an anti-terrorism exercise."

Playing games within games?

Something feels off.

An Ran "cooperated" by feigning understanding: "Oh, I see! Thank you."

The chuunibyou soul laughs foolishly.

Naiko Knight was speechless, while Kiyoshiro looked at the chuunibyou soul with disdain.

After saying goodbye, An Ran turned and left.

Jiuge's headquarters is located at No. 97 Qiuyang Road, and the No. 123 R&D Center is just across the street not far away.

"What adorable NPCs! I think I'm in love!" exclaimed the excited chuunibyou (delusional) soul.

"Pervert, he actually likes a bunch of data." Qing Shuang exaggeratedly took a step back to the side.

The chuunibyou spirit retorted: "What's wrong with data? Is it wrong to like data? Besides, he's way better looking than you!"

"Huh!?" Qing Shuang immediately puffed out her cheeks, getting angry.

"Alright, alright, stop arguing and let's go clear this dungeon first," Naizi Knight quickly stepped in to smooth things over.

To be honest, he also tried to do something wrong with a certain pile of data.

We just haven't found a target yet.

Chapter 12 Don't you have any self-awareness?

"Little sister, this is not a place for you."

At No. 123 Qiuyang Road, the R&D center is a strange, dome-shaped building surrounded by a bright white steel frame wall. A listless middle-aged man stands beside the double doors.

This is the security guard who was yawning and talking calmly.

Little sister?

i wipe...

An Ran immediately bristled.

Who are you calling younger?

Forget it, I don't have time to argue with you.

Anran took out the badge that Gray had given her.

The guard, who was still lost in thought, immediately widened his eyes in surprise when he saw the badge.

Wow, the golden legend!

Wow, isn't that one of the two badges the director always wears, the gold one?

This is a symbol of the director's strength when he was young!

Could it be...

"Could you be the director's granddaughter?" the gatekeeper guessed. If that were true, wouldn't he be in big trouble if he kept the director's granddaughter out of the gate?

No, we need to build a good relationship with her quickly. Even if she's not the director's granddaughter, the person who got this badge must be someone special.

The security guard was about to speak when a possibility suddenly occurred to him: what if the girl had found the badge?

The gatekeeper was still hesitating.

An Ran felt helpless.

He's supposed to be the director, so why does Gray seem to be doing so poorly?

Even after showing his badge, the gatekeeper still wouldn't let him through.

Actually, you can't really blame Gray. Although he gave instructions to the gatekeeper, the gatekeeper was replaced at the last minute.

However, there was one thing Anran hadn't guessed: Gray was indeed not doing very well at the increasingly dilapidated R&D center.

The stalemate continued, and just as Anran was about to leave, Gray emerged from the domed building.

"Hey, you're here!" Gray's eyes lit up.

An Ran immediately retorted, "Your badge is completely useless; you can't even get through the main gate."

Upon hearing their conversation, the gatekeeper's face immediately froze.

Uh……

Anran followed Gray into the research and development center.

The gatekeeper sighed; perhaps this was why he had always remained just a lowly gatekeeper.

However, it's not a big problem. The director won't be here for long either; the R&D center might change at any time.

“The R&D center is divided into several areas. I won’t go into detail about the floors above ground. The first basement level is the R&D Department 1, and the second basement level is the workshop. With my badge, you can move around freely on these two levels,” Gray said as he walked.

Anran walked along a long corridor. To her right was a glass-enclosed room, which seemed to be a rest area.

“You’d better not go to the other floors. Even with my badge, it will be troublesome.” Gray’s high-spirited tone suddenly became slightly lower. “If you want to use the workshop, room 03 is usually unused, so you can use it freely.”

Anran nodded.

Gray seemed to be playing the role of a tour guide.

"Hey, Chief, is this your relative?" A tall young man with metal-framed glasses walked towards us, holding a cup of coffee.

"More or less," Gray replied.

An Ran remained silent, not refuting Gray's words, preferring to avoid trouble.

She doesn't know anything about the situation, and if she talks too much, she might offend someone. There's no need to make enemies for no reason.

Especially after being targeted by Chenxing in a daze, her favorability rating with Chenxing is still -100.

This shows what?

This shows that even though the car overturned and that group of people were involved, there were still people in Morning Star who harbored ill will towards her.

This malice is neither too great nor too small.

Judging by personal favorability, -100 is already a fight to the death.