Chapter 00092: What's With the Number Ten
# What's With the Number Ten?
Chapter 92
Novel: AFK Game: Portal to Another World
Chapter 92: What's With the Number Ten?
The previous Fantasy Script was different from this Wuxia Script.
Last time, Viola quickly explained the plot, and they went straight into the first battle of the mountain bandits attacking the city.
The pace felt very fast.
This time was the complete opposite.
Li Chengxi watched all morning, but Yang Yiyi didn't wake up.
He came back to check after lunch, and she was still asleep.
After dinner, he checked again, and there was finally some reaction.
She turned over but still didn't wake up...
It made sense when he thought about it.
Even if vegetation had cushioned the fall, someone who jumped from a cliff would definitely be severely injured.
It was impossible for them to be full of life and running around after just one night's sleep.
The next day, it was time to send Audel back.
Early in the morning, Audel, having washed up, stood in Li Chengxi's room carrying large and small bags, because the desktop computer screen here was bigger.
The bags were stuffed with the clothes she had bought two days ago.
Li Chengxi also had Audel pack some of her favorite snacks to take back.
After all, he ran a convenience store and had plenty of snacks.
What was rather strange, however, was that Audel was currently levitating in mid-air, her entire body positioned horizontally.
Even the hem of her robe defied gravity, sticking out sideways.
Sending her back was simple enough.
She just had to return the same way she came.
But while she could be pulled out of the screen when she arrived, jumping back in horizontally was not easy.
That was why Audel used the Levitation Spell to position herself horizontally.
"Are you ready? I'm going to push."
Audel nodded, clutching the snacks and clothes to her chest, indicating that he could push.
The screen showed Viola's room.
She had just gotten out of bed and was combing her hair.
Originally, Li Chengxi had planned to send Audel back to the Chapel during Viola's prayer, but she said it was a bit embarrassing to maintain this posture in front of everyone...
So they switched to Viola's bedroom instead.
After setting the camera view, Li Chengxi pushed Audel's head towards the screen.
When her feet touched it, the LCD screen rippled noticeably, as if softening and deforming.
Soon, a living person vanished into the screen as if sinking into water.
On the screen, however, a blue-haired Chibi figure carrying large and small bags appeared.
Li Chengxi knew at a glance that the transfer was successful.
The operation was similar to sending vegetable seeds to Viola's side.
He was about to turn off the computer and go downstairs to open the store when his phone buzzed.
The caller ID read 'Qian Sen'.
"Hello? Mr. Li Chengxi? It's me, Qian Sen."
As soon as he picked up the call, Qian Sen said from the other end:
"Has Miss Audel already returned?"
Li Chengxi, holding the phone, immediately glanced out the window:
"Did your surveillance agent see it?"
"No, I received a return spatial shift signal on my end. The timing is also about the same as the duration Miss Audel mentioned she'd stay, so I guessed she had returned."
Hearing this, Li Chengxi asked strangely:
"Weren't you injured? Why are you still working?"
The injury had happened the night before last.
At the time, Qian Sen's arm was a mess of flesh and blood, the wound so deep the bone was visible.
Shouldn't he get at least half a month of injury leave?
"Sigh, I have no choice. Our work unit is too short-staffed. Although I can't go to the field, the administrative work still needs to be done."
How tragic.
Li Chengxi was starting to feel sorry for Qian Sen.
Shouldn't the benefits for a civil servant be good? Section Nine felt like a sweatshop that made its employees work nonstop all year round.
"Let's get back to business. I'm just confirming, Miss Audel has returned, correct?"
"Yes, she just left a little while ago."
"What did she take with her when she left? Did she say when she would be back?"
"Just the clothes she bought a couple of days ago and some snacks like potato chips. She said she would come again in the future, but didn't give a specific time."
"Anything else?"
"She did mention that she would send me a few bottles of potions she made herself after she got back, to express her apologies for troubling me for a few days, but nothing else."
"Potions, is it?"
"Is that not allowed?"
"It's not that it's not allowed..."
Qian Sen on the other end of the line paused for a moment, then said:
"You won't be going out anytime soon, right?"
"I have no plans to. I run a convenience store, so I'll be in the store all day."
"That's good. How about this, I'll come see you tomorrow and bring you something."
"Uh... what kind of something? The memory eraser from Men in Black? The kind that makes me an idiot with one flash?"
"You're overthinking it. Where would we get something so convenient? It's something else."
Qian Sen seemed very busy on his end.
He even covered the receiver to say a few words to someone else before speaking again:
"Since you're already too deeply involved, you can no longer be considered a mere person with knowledge. I'm currently filing an application to officially bring you into our circle. The application report should be approved today, and I'll bring the thing to you tomorrow."
"So what is it, exactly?"
"Let's leave a little surprise. Anyway, it's not a bad thing. That's all. See you tomorrow."
"Hey? Fuck! Just tell me clearly, hey!"
Qian Sen hung up on his own, leaving Li Chengxi in a state of disarray.
It was like wondering what the pangolin actually said; the itch of curiosity was simply unbearable.
After agonizing for a good while, Li Chengxi decided to go downstairs and open the store as usual, to do what he needed to do.
It was as the saying goes: if it's a blessing, it isn't a curse, and if it's a curse, you can't escape it.
After all, even if he wanted to run, he had nowhere to go.
He was just a regular guy, and he was stuck here.
He'd just have to see what Qian Sen would bring tomorrow.
As usual, Li Chengxi went downstairs, opened the rolling shutter to start the business day, then plopped down behind the cash register and opened his laptop.
This time, however, he didn't click on Viola's side to check the situation as he usually did.
It seemed like nothing major was happening recently anyway.
It was an idle game, after all.
The point was idle play; a casual glance every now and then was enough.
Li Chengxi clicked on the game, first entering the main menu.
Beneath the clickable 'Fantasy' and 'Wuxia' buttons, the words 'Running' were marked in red.
Li Chengxi moved the mouse and clicked on the last option, 'Sci-Fi'.
As before, it didn't unlock smoothly.
The dialogue box that popped up read 'Inventory: 500,000 Gold Coins, Own 10 Sky-Upholding Stones'.
Seeing the amount of gold coins, Li Chengxi knew that starting another Sci-Fi script wasn't something he could manage in a short time.
No matter how he looked at it, he would have to wait until after Viola restored her kingdom to have any chance of gathering that much.
As for the 10 Sky-Upholding Stones?
He hadn't even seen a shadow of those.
Li Chengxi had no idea what that thing was, but he felt it was probably some kind of very important resource.
Speaking of which, why was it the number 10 again? There were rumored to be ten Rings of the Demon King, and now it was asking for 10 Sky-Upholding Stones.
Was it obsessed with the number 10 or something?
Since starting a new Sci-Fi instance was out of the question, Li Chengxi casually clicked on Wuxia to check on Yang Yiyi.
He clicked the button, and the screen immediately went black before displaying the pixelated cave scene.
The Jade Tablet controlled by Li Chengxi was still in the same spot, unmoving, and Yang Yiyi also seemed to be still unconscious.
If he hadn't opened her Character Panel and seen that her HP bar had recovered a little, Li Chengxi would have suspected the girl had already kicked the bucket in her coma.
Since she hadn't woken up, there was nothing to be done but continue waiting.
Just as Li Chengxi was about to leave the computer on and turn to tidy up the shelves, he saw the Chibi figure of Yang Yiyi seem to stir.
She then pushed herself up with her hands into a sitting position.
As she raised her eyes, she saw the Jade Tablet floating in mid-air.
In that instant, Li Chengxi, outside the screen, could almost feel the bewildered expression on Yang Yiyi's face.
A large question mark popped up above the Chibi figure's head...