“Hey, why are you just sitting there in your chair without saying a word? Did you meet a pretty girl and lose your heart?”
As Xu Wenxing looked up at the ceiling, a familiar voice suddenly reached his ears.
It was his roommate, Lu Ren.
He blinked and looked toward the source of the voice, seeing the other man waving a hand at him with a confused look, concerned about his condition.
Xu Wenxing snapped out of it, shook his head, let out a breath, and replied, “No, I was just thinking about some strange things.”
“Thinking about things? That doesn’t sound like you,” Lu Ren said with surprise. “By all accounts, shouldn’t you be thinking about what game you want to play right now?”
“I am a respectable person, after all. How could I be thinking about playing games every day? Don’t slander me so casually.”
While retorting, Xu Wenxing stood up and made a “scissors” gesture toward Lu Ren.
Lu Ren stood there, puzzled, looking at him as if he were a fool.
He couldn’t figure out what kind of stunt his friend was pulling.
Why the sudden game of rock-paper-scissors? Did a walk outside break his brain?
Seeing that his roommate was ignoring his gesture, Xu Wenxing finally felt at ease and said, “Brother Ren, you have absolutely no idea what I just ran into outside.”
“Who cares? Even if Meteor threw herself at you, it wouldn’t be any of my business,” Lu Ren said, curling his lip.
“You said you’d be out all day, only to come charging back right as the doors were about to close. It forced me to come down and open up for you, wasting my time.”
“Hey, Brother Ren, are you really that heartless? We’ve been roommates for so long. Have you already forgotten everything from our past?”
“If you mention the past one more time, I’ll kick you right out and let you be a pair of miserable lovebirds with the stray dogs on the street.”
After hearing Lu Ren’s usual sharp-tongued retort, Xu Wenxing laughed and waved his hand before continuing.
“Alright, no more jokes. I really did run into something today, and I almost kicked the bucket. If not for my good luck and meeting a good person, you might have been looking at my handsome face in a funeral hall.”
“Huh?” Lu Ren was somewhat shocked. “Weren’t you out driving around with your dad’s friend? How could something have gone wrong? Did you run into a monster?”
“Worse than a monster. My father’s friend has problems — he’s not a normal human,” Xu Wenxing replied with a shake of his head.
“What?! Not a normal human?!”
Upon hearing such explosive news, Lu Ren instantly perked up.
An existence with a human appearance that wasn’t a normal human? He was very familiar with that!
Wasn’t that just a humanoid Shadow Beast? Since such a perfect target had appeared, he felt the greatsword in his hand already starting to cheer! It was time to kill!
Seeing Lu Ren fall silent, Xu Wenxing assumed he was simply surprised by the appearance of such a person, so he continued.
“Yeah, not a normal human. You’ll understand once I explain.”
“Mm, go ahead.”
Lu Ren nodded readily, waiting for Xu Wenxing to explain tonight’s encounter.
After organizing his thoughts for a moment and clarifying the sequence of events, Xu Wenxing slowly began to tell Lu Ren about his night.
“Didn’t I go to pick up my father’s friend tonight? I called a ride-share car, and then…”
Xu Wenxing gestured with his hands as he spoke, recounting the various dangers he had faced.
The story included the middle-aged driver calling himself Li Qingyuan and the entire process of involving his dad to deal with the Caesar Grand Hotel.
As he listened, Lu Ren’s eyes narrowed slightly.
What concerned him most wasn’t that there was something wrong with the Caesar Grand Hotel, nor was it the soul projection.
It was the middle-aged driver’s daughter, whom Xu Wenxing had mentioned in passing.
‘Wait, so his daughter was a Magic Girl who had died in City A…?’
Lu Ren recalled the day he had obtained his Magical Outfit, and his heart suddenly skipped a beat.
‘No, I must be overthinking things. How could it be such a coincidence?’
Lu Ren shook his head, trying to force himself not to dwell on that day.
He didn’t want the possibility in his mind to become reality. Otherwise, it would simply be too cruel.
Thinking this way, Lu Ren continued to listen to the various strange things Xu Wenxing had encountered that night, remaining silent throughout without interrupting.
Over ten minutes later, Xu Wenxing finally finished saying everything he wanted to say.
He let out a slow breath, stood up, and poured himself a glass of water.
“Ah… let me think first.”
Lu Ren paused for several seconds after hearing Xu Wenxing’s question, digesting the massive amount of information.
After a brief silence, Lu Ren looked up again. “I plan to handle those monsters at the Caesar Grand Hotel first. I’m very interested in the ‘souls’ they mentioned.”
“Isn’t… isn’t that a bit too dangerous?” Xu Wenxing couldn’t help but furrow his brows.
“Even that middle-aged man’s daughter ran into danger there. If it’s just you alone, Brother Ren, it probably won’t be easy to deal with, right? I think we should just forget it.”
“Don’t be afraid. I don’t plan to charge in alone,” Lu Ren laughed. “I’ll invite Sapphire and Meteor to come help. With the three of us acting together, we can look out for one another.”
“…I still don’t think it’s a good idea.”
Xu Wenxing fell silent for several seconds before finally shaking his head in worry and voicing his thoughts to Lu Ren.
Because the middle-aged driver had risked his life to save him, he harbored a deep fear of the Caesar Grand Hotel.
He truly did not want Lu Ren to encounter any danger there.
Looking at his worried expression, Lu Ren comforted him.
“I know what you’re worried about. You’re just afraid that Sapphire and the others will be in danger. But even if there is immense danger, should we just sit back and do nothing about it? Students from our school have already fallen victim at the Caesar Grand Hotel. Who knows if the next victim might be one of our own family members? It’s better to root out this kind of hidden danger as early as possible.”
Xu Wenxing lowered his head, knowing that everything Lu Ren said was right.
But he was still worried. He was so hesitant that he felt like he was failing everyone.
‘Damn it…’
‘If only I could become a member of the support staff. Even if I could only provide a tiny bit of useful information to Sapphire and the others, I wouldn’t be agonizing like this.’
Suddenly, Xu Wenxing began to blame himself. He hated that he couldn’t do anything, to the point where he could only watch as his good friend headed toward a dangerous battlefield.
Lu Ren looked Xu Wenxing up and down. Seeing his silent state and knowing he was still worried about the safety of Sapphire and the others, Lu Ren smiled and patted him on the shoulder.
“Stop overthinking it. Look at me — I’ve killed so many monsters, when have I ever had an issue? A mere Caesar Grand Hotel will be a walk in the park.”
“…Yeah,” Xu Wenxing nodded gloomily.