novelhk Chapter 249 Miss Catherine, you didn't want this either...
Chapter 249 Miss Catherine, you didn't want this either...
Twelve moons after twelve moons, but in reality, it's just a fleeting moment. Even the coffee that was just brewed on the table in Jingshan Palace is still steaming hot.
However, within the realm of consciousness, the "time" of a month has already quietly passed by on fixed dates.
[Host, according to incomplete statistics, in the past "thirty-seven days", your escape plan has failed twenty-nine times, and your account has been banned thirteen times by the Pure Goodness Palace system.]
[Current time: 10:27 AM, 38th playthrough of the Flower Goddess's Birthday Eve event.]
[Your fully intelligent time management assistant, Xiao Tong, is very unhappy to serve you.]
The system's electronic voice was unusually filled with resentment. Working tirelessly for thirty-eight days without pay or subsidies, it was enough to make slave owners gasp and capitalists weep.
There's no time to mourn the end of the 996 work system; now, the brand-new 007 work system is taking the stage!
She had heard that Miss Catherine next door could earn over a thousand a day just by sitting in the Adventurers' Guild and drinking tea. She just didn't know if the Adventurers' Guild was lacking artificial intelligence.
Mu Feng sat at the entrance of the Health Home, his gaze deep and serious, but unusually, he did not utter a word to refute the system's complaints.
Thirty-seven cycles of reincarnation have passed, yet he still knows very little about this closed space of consciousness.
If a way to leave cannot be found soon, the only option left is to stay in the world of consciousness and live off Narcida's cyber life.
Mu Feng turned his gaze toward the Grand Bazaar. Although it was nearly noon, the market was still bustling with people, filled with the joyful atmosphere before the festival.
The disastrous experience in the basement meant the plan to leave the city was off the table, so the only option left was to try one's luck at the Grand Bazaar.
Deep down, he seemed to have a premonition that there must be some important clue there that he had been overlooking.
On the eve of the Flower Goddess's birthday festival, in the Grand Bazaar, time cycles... This broken puzzle is still missing a crucial piece.
In these thirty-seven consecutive cycles, what exactly did he miss? Or perhaps...?
Just then, the system's beeping communication sound rang out at an inopportune moment, interrupting Mu Feng's thoughts.
[…The Adventurers' Guild? Yes, yes, I'm looking for Miss Catherine… What? The Sumeru website is offline?]
Oh, me? I need a part-time job, yes, the same one Miss Catherine is doing. My salary requirements are...
What did you say? Weekends off? Daily pay? Five social insurances and one housing fund, accommodation included, and various flavors of electricity to choose from?!
The system's voice suddenly became excited: "Having wandered for half my life without encountering a wise ruler, if you do not abandon me, I am willing to become your servant..."
Ahem, what she meant was that the Adventurers' Guild, this company listed in Winter's End, looks very promising, Zhongcheng!
As for raw stones, one or two thousand is not too little, five or eight thousand would be even better, at least enough for her to replace a completely new set of parts.
Who says the winter solstice is bad? She thinks this winter solstice is wonderful!
Mu Feng, standing to the side, turned pale, with veins bulging on his forehead. This damn system is now completely useless.
Although he wasn't particularly concerned about how many Primogems Catherine had embezzled from Yingmei, what he was concerned about was...
Mu Feng suddenly froze. A blurry image flashed by quickly, and his memory lingered on a corner of the image.
A silent thunderclap exploded in my mind. Could it be...?
On the eve of the Flower Goddess's birthday festival...the Grand Bazaar...the cycle of time...fragmented pieces of information, like scattered puzzle pieces, are instantly pieced together into an almost complete outline.
So that's how it is... Hajithong, you bastard.
He should have noticed it sooner; that inconspicuous detail slipped by unnoticed the very next night.
……
Fifteen minutes later, at the entrance to Sumeru City, the Adventurers' Guild.
There weren't many adventurers coming to handle their commissions around noon, and the receptionist, Catherine, wasn't sitting at the front desk as usual, but instead was organizing the documents and decorations on the wooden cabinet.
Seemingly sensing the arrival of a visitor, Catherine stopped what she was doing, turned around, lifted her skirt, and gave a slight bow, her face bearing her unchanging, standard smile.
"Towards the stars and the abyss! Good afternoon, adventurers. At present, there are no quests to be accepted in Sumeru City."
Her movements were quite natural, but Mu Feng keenly noticed that Catherine seemed to be deliberately hiding something.
As if sensing Mu Feng's slight forward lean, Catherine stepped forward and blocked Mu Feng's view with her body.
"Excuse me, adventurer, the guild contains private information about other adventurers and entry is not permitted without permission."
Upon hearing this, Mu Feng paused for a moment, then began an intense exchange with his brain system under Catherine's questioning gaze.
[Host, this system must reiterate that Miss Catherine is my beloved sister and close friend, I cannot...]
The system spoke with righteous indignation, its authority forbidding it from selling out its friends' privacy, even its host!
Mu Feng remained expressionless and skillfully laid out his terms.
"Add more money, one million Mora."
The system wavered, but was she the kind of system that would bow down for five pecks of rice and willingly be humiliated by Mora?
"Including parts repair and replacement services, Abtui Blue Bokinich brand processed parts 1:1 replica products."
The system exuded righteous indignation. Indeed, its judgment of people... its judgment of the system was spot on! As expected of its host, this was the kind of system she was!
[Ahem, what this system means is that it has always deeply abhorred all acts of corruption and bribery.]
Even though Miss Catherine is my beloved sister and friend, this system must seriously correct her behavior.
The person in charge vehemently criticized the suspect Kai's despicable act of embezzling traveler's raw materials and expressed strong condemnation of it.
Where is morality? Where is the law? Where is professional ethics? Where are the job application channels?
At that moment, she felt that she should be surrounded by golden light of merit.
So, just as Catherine, whose gaze was growing increasingly suspicious, was about to call the group of thirty, Mu Feng finally spoke again.
He leaned close to Catherine's ear and deliberately lowered his voice.
“Miss Catherine, you wouldn’t want the Adventurers’ Guild to discover the 562,100 Ore hidden in the secret compartment behind the third drawer from the second to last shelf of the wooden cabinet, would you?”
Catherine: !!! How did he know?!
That was her entire year's income last year! She had hidden it very well, there was no way anyone should have known!
Traitor! Mole! There must be a traitor within the organization! Someone among us must have betrayed the organization!
The receptionist paused for a moment, then subtly put on a smile and gestured for them to proceed.
"Of course, in certain special circumstances, the rules may need to be modified. Adventurer, please come in."
……