After satisfactorily resolving the bombing case, Lu Ren was finally able to enjoy a few peaceful days.
Although, on certain websites, the number of strange pictures of himself kept increasing—some so plentiful they could be compiled into a collection, or even turned into a black-and-white comic strip.
But considering this was also proof of his growing fame, Lu Ren managed to suppress his embarrassment and grudgingly accept the fact.
As for his studies, Lu Ren hadn’t encountered any significant problems.
The first-year curriculum wasn’t particularly difficult. As long as he didn’t zone out and tried to understand, he could grasp everything just fine.
Even if he ran into truly hard-to-understand abstract concepts, he just needed to put them aside and wait.
The next day, or whenever inspiration struck, he’d naturally come to understand them.
That’s just how studying worked, after all.
If you know it, you know it. If you don’t, you still know it.
Lu Ren didn’t believe in the phrase “half-understood.”
And so, in such a relaxed atmosphere, time slipped by, second by second.
In the blink of an eye, it was Thursday afternoon, 5:45 p.m.
After finishing class in the afternoon, Lu Ren didn’t rush to eat. Instead, he returned to his dorm first and played a game for a while.
Watching the enemy’s base explode smoothly on the computer screen, Lu Ren leaned back in his chair, letting out a long breath.
He planned to rest for a bit before heading out to eat.
“Ren-ge, this is bad—huge bad news! There are fewer new pictures of Blazing Flame! Even the racy ones are down to about ten percent! Looks like Xiao Leiyin Temple has finally lost to the Great Lei Sect!”
At that moment, Xu Wenxing suddenly stood up from his chair, phone in hand, coming over to Lu Ren with a voice full of regret.
“Isn’t that a good thing?” Lu Ren glanced at Xu Wenxing, retorting, “Besides, aren’t you the one who’s obsessed with big breasts? Why are you acting like this?”
“No, no, no, I now equally like all beautiful girls. As long as they’re pretty, I like them all.”
Xu Wenxing said, while switching his phone to the mobile game he’d been playing for ages, “See? I even changed my main display character.”
“…That’s an older sister and a little sister, you like childhood friends and everyone, huh?”
“Nonsense, I call this universal love!” Xu Wenxing said earnestly.
“I think you’re just greedy.” Lu Ren waved him off, “Let me rest a bit. I just played for half an hour, I’m exhausted.”
“Half an hour? Take it easy, Ren-ge, don’t over-relax.” Xu Wenxing teased, grinning weirdly.
“Screw you!”
After Xu Wenxing’s teasing, Lu Ren didn’t hesitate to flip him the middle finger, expressing his own friendly feelings.
It wasn’t until Xu Wenxing sat back down at his own desk that Lu Ren put his hand down and continued relaxing in his chair.
Just as Lu Ren was unwinding, his phone on the table suddenly flashed with a new notification.
Lu Ren focused his gaze—it was a message from Sapphire.
He picked up the phone, opened the chat app, and saw a message related to the authorities.
“Blazing Flame, Director Xu wants to film a propaganda video with you. He asked me to see if you’re interested.”
A propaganda video, huh?
Faced with this official proposal, Lu Ren fell into thought.
Although there were only benefits and no downsides to such a propaganda video for him, still, how should he put it…
Hmm…
He really didn’t want to speak in front of the camera.
Even if he transformed into a magical girl and spoke in front of the camera, he was not at all willing.
Right now, not all the Monsters in City A had been purified. He didn’t want to say any flowery, empty words in front of the camera—it just wasn’t his style.
He’d rather drive out all the Monsters first, or only after he possessed invincible strength, before saying those sorts of things on camera.
“Sorry, Sapphire, I’m busy lately. Let’s talk about it another time.” Lu Ren tactfully declined.
“I understand. Let’s wait until you’re interested, then talk about the propaganda.” Sapphire instantly understood Blazing Flame’s meaning and replied.
After replying, Sapphire didn’t send any new messages for a while.
Just as Lu Ren thought Sapphire had only wanted to casually ask something, and was about to get up and head to the cafeteria, Sapphire sent another message.
“Blazing Flame, have you sensed any signs of a Magical Power Source appearing these past few days?”
Lu Ren looked at the new message from Sapphire, raised an eyebrow, and fell into doubt.
Why would Sapphire ask him this? Could it be she’d found traces of Monster activity?
Although puzzled, Lu Ren answered honestly.
“No, I haven’t sensed any Magical Power Source.”
“I see. Then do you have time soon? Could you help me with something?” Sapphire asked.
Seeing Sapphire proactively ask for help, Lu Ren was startled.
Ever since he’d known Sapphire, he’d never seen her so directly request his help.
What could have happened, to make her so eager to seek assistance?
“Did a new Monster appear?” Lu Ren asked, confused.
“No, it’s just a family of three who were hospitalized for food poisoning and haven’t woken up yet.”
“Food poisoning?”
Seeing that somewhat familiar term, Lu Ren relaxed, thinking it wasn’t anything major.
If it was just food poisoning, couldn’t Meteor help out?
Lu Ren remembered that Meteor had a certain Healing Ability, right?
“Yes. The family of three went to the Shopping Center last night to eat Mushroom Hotpot. Early this morning, all of them fell into a coma and haven’t woken up. If their neighbor hadn’t noticed something was wrong and called the police in time, there could’ve been real trouble.” Sapphire explained.
“Isn’t it pretty normal to get food poisoning from eating mushrooms? Meteor should be able to help them recover, right?” Lu Ren asked.
“I already asked Meteor—didn’t work. Also, there were no toxins in the mushrooms they ate last night. The samples left at the restaurant were tested, and there were no issues.”
Reading Sapphire’s explanation, Lu Ren pondered whether to agree to her request.
From his experience, this seemed like an ordinary food poisoning case, nothing special.
But Sapphire was so persistent about it, even proactively asking for his help, wanting him to work with her to resolve the case.
Could it be Sapphire noticed something odd in this seemingly simple incident?
Lu Ren hesitated for a moment, but ultimately decided to trust Sapphire’s judgment and intuition.
“I’m only free on the weekend—does that work?” Lu Ren confirmed with Sapphire.
“No problem. Thank you, Blazing Flame.”
Sapphire immediately typed back, accepting Blazing Flame’s schedule.