After the brief conversation, the atmosphere in the living room fell silent again.
The two stared at each other for a while, then Xu Wenxing cleared his throat and changed the subject, redirecting Lin Yiyi’s attention back to the tutoring at hand.
Reminded by Xu Wenxing, Lin Yiyi quickly came back to her senses and continued explaining the secret knowledge the Monster Response Department had uncovered so far.
Normally, only veteran employees were qualified to know this knowledge, but after Xu Wenxing successfully developed the magic detection device, that tightly closed door opened for him ahead of time.
Director Xu already saw him as the future star of City A’s Technology Department, planning to train him a bit more before directly sending him to the technical department as a supervisor.
Of course, Xu Wenxing had no idea about Director Xu’s decision.
He only felt that he had so much to learn, just like learning a foreign language.
‘In elementary school, the teacher said you only entered the threshold after memorizing 1,000 foreign words. In middle school, the teacher said you entered the threshold after remembering a few hundred sentence patterns. In college, the teacher said you entered the threshold after passing CET-6… Isn’t the bar a bit too high? What exactly counts as entering the threshold?’
While complaining in his mind about the content he had to learn, Xu Wenxing concentrated on Lin Yiyi’s explanation, occasionally asking her about parts he didn’t understand or found confusing.
Even though he felt the material was vast and tedious, there was no resentment in his heart.
After all, he was now a support staff member of the City A Monster Response Department, specifically dedicated to helping the three magical girls.
As long as he could help them, any effort he put in was worth it.
Especially… if he could help that magical girl.
Thinking of the proud and dashing figure of the red-haired girl in his mind, Xu Wenxing’s lips curled up slightly.
He maintained his focus and studied earnestly.
Time passed minute by minute.
In the blink of an eye, it was time for lunch.
Just as the phone alarm rang, Lin Yiyi had just finished explaining her experience in luring monsters to Xu Wenxing, and it was break time.
“Whew… that’s enough for the morning. Let’s eat first.”
“Okay, I’ll go downstairs to eat. Do you want me to pack something for you?” Xu Wenxing nodded and asked.
“Yes, please buy me a Hamburger Set A. I’ll transfer the money to you later. Thanks.” Lin Yiyi replied.
“You’re welcome. I’m heading out.”
Xu Wenxing stood up, picked up his phone, walked out of the room, and left the apartment building.
He randomly found a fast-food restaurant, wolfed down his own lunch, then packed a Hamburger Set A.
Relaxed, he slowly walked back to his residence.
As soon as he pushed open the door, he saw Lin Yiyi holding her phone, frowning deeply, as if something important had happened.
“…Okay, I understand, Director Xu. I’ll head out in a bit.”
After hanging up, Lin Yiyi let out a long sigh.
Hearing footsteps, she looked toward Xu Wenxing and spoke proactively.
“You’re free this afternoon. I just got a call from Director Xu; I need to go help.”
“What’s wrong? Are Sapphire and the others in trouble?” Xu Wenxing put down the hamburger set in his hand, curious.
Lin Yiyi shook her head, opened the plastic bag, ate the burger inside, and replied.
“Sort of. Didn’t Lu Ren just go to Jiulong Hotel? He suddenly needs help.”
“Help?” Xu Wenxing pressed.
“Yeah, it’s not good news. He found a corpse in the hotel’s basement.”
“A corpse?” Xu Wenxing took a sip of tea, raising an eyebrow.
A corpse stored in a hotel basement—sounds like something out of a horror story.
Finishing her burger quickly, Lin Yiyi tore open the popcorn chicken and popped pieces into her mouth, explaining.
“Yeah, he said he saw a corpse of some unknown creature in the basement, and also saw wolves with red eyes.”
“There are dogs in the basement?”
“Who knows? Anyway, the corpse was mutilated, and those dogs looked scary, but they didn’t attack him actively. They just watched him from a distance, as if waiting for something.”
“…That doesn’t sound good.” Xu Wenxing vaguely felt something was off, but couldn’t pinpoint what.
So he just nodded in agreement, voicing his thoughts.
Lin Yiyi sighed, didn’t reply, put the straw into the cola cup, took a sip, then quickly frowned and cursed.
“Ugh! Why is this Toilet Cleaner Cola? When did they switch cola sources?”
“Uh, yeah. I just saw them putting a big bottle of blue-colored cola into the drink machine.” Xu Wenxing paused for a few seconds before describing what he had seen.
Though he didn’t have any particular opinion on different cola flavors, judging by Lin Yiyi’s reaction, she seemed to be a staunch Red Cola supporter?
He didn’t get it.
“Tch! I only bought from them because they used Red Cola. Now that they’ve changed the cola source, I might as well buy burgers from somewhere else.”
Seeing Lin Yiyi’s rare loss of composure, Xu Wenxing wisely chose to remain silent, not saying anything like “Blue Cola isn’t bad either.”
He knew that saying nothing was the right choice at times like this.
Just like the battle between sweet and savory tofu pudding, outsiders couldn’t stop their fanaticism.
Though he himself ate spicy tofu pudding.
“Forget it. Toilet Cleaner Cola it is. Drink up quickly; I need to go examine the corpse later.”
After grumbling a few complaints, Lin Yiyi shook her head and reluctantly finished her cola.
A few minutes later, she shook the empty cup, neatly gathered the trash into a plastic bag, and said to Xu Wenxing.
“I’m heading out now. Director Xu might come to ask for your help later, so be prepared.”
“Got it. Safe travels, Miss Lin Yiyi.”
“Thanks.” Waving with a smile, Lin Yiyi left the residence and headed toward Jiulong Hotel.
Watching her back as she left, Xu Wenxing sat on the sofa, letting his mind go blank, silently praying that things would go smoothly.
After a brief moment of calm, the black headphones on the table suddenly rang.
The sound was noisy and unclear, but he could tell the voice on the other end was quite urgent.
Xu Wenxing snapped back to attention, looked at his black headphones, perked up instantly, grabbed them, put them to his ear, and spoke.
“Hey, Brother Ren? It’s me.”
“Xu Wenxing? Help! I’m in trouble!”
Hearing Lu Ren’s voice, Xu Wenxing steadied his mind, kept calm, and slowly asked.
“Brother Ren, don’t panic. Slowly tell me what trouble you’re in.”
“I got it! Wait, I’ll find a safe place first!”