Ye Jiaoyue initiated an online meeting, promptly interrupting the princeling Yi’s blatant harassment.
At the same time, a message popped up in Zhuang Ningyu’s computer notifications: his superior had appointed him as the temporary deputy captain for this rule-breaking operation.
The other team members had no objections. After all, Zhuang Ningyu had originally come from the Order Maintenance Department himself. He was an S-level Evolver who had participated in numerous rule-breaking missions and had extensive experience. He was only temporarily transferred to the Dispute Resolution Department in the Fifteenth District, which was closer to his home, after a leg surgery required a long recovery period.
Ye Jiaoyue asked, “Ningyu, what are your thoughts on this operation?”
“It’s an information-deficient rule,” Zhuang Ningyu said, putting on his headset. “Based on the existing text, we can’t deduce the complete internal logic chain.”
And without a logic chain, there was no way to quickly find a method to break the rule. However, the first rule should be usable.
He continued, “The 155 community bus only has two stops. The starting point is across from the Spring Breeze Supermarket, with the first bus departing at ten o’clock sharp every day. The end of the line is the Taoli Road Station, Exit D on subway line 5.”
This subway station was not occupied by the rule zone. So, by normal logic, as long as the passengers met the rule’s requirements, the bus should be able to operate normally, drive to its final stop, and leave the rule zone.
Ye Jiaoyue agreed with this assessment. That afternoon, she had already found a mother and daughter pair who volunteered to help test the rule. They were residents of Building 1, apartment 101. The mother, forty-two, was a martial arts teacher. Her daughter, sixteen, had been studying Sanda since she was a child and was physically strong and quick to react. They would wait at the bus stop at ten o’tclock tomorrow morning to see if they could successfully leave via the 155 bus.
“Rules two, three, and four seem like a list of precautions for hosting a guest,” Zhuang Ningyu continued. “The monster, playing the role of the guest, is extremely averse to noise, unable to tolerate even a child’s cry or two. It lacks patience, is unwilling to even wait for the door to be opened, and likes a clean environment but has poor hygiene habits itself. It’s impolite, has poor character, and additionally, it seems to be extremely tired and hungry.”
Rule five, tested by tonight’s sudden incident, was also useful. An enraged monster could indeed be pacified by a bowl of instant noodles. As for rules six and seven, the Spring Breeze Supermarket and the wet market should open on time tomorrow.
“The last one: stay away from the terrace,” Ye Jiaoyue said, calling on someone. “Yi Ke, your thoughts.”
It was only natural for a newcomer on his first day of an operation to be questioned by the leader. Everyone waited, but for a long time, no answer came through the headsets.
Zhuang Ningyu turned his head and glanced over with a slight frown, intending to remind the other man to know his limits. But it turned out he had underestimated Yi Ke’s overflowing desire for attention.
Suddenly colliding with a burning gaze at a time like this, Zhuang Ningyu nearly had a heart attack on the spot. The culprit, however, let out a laugh. Propping his cheek on one hand, he continued to shamelessly glue his eyes to him. Only after he had his fill of looking did he speak.
“Logically, one only needs to stay away from danger. Since the rule specifically points it out, it means the terrace is dangerous. Dangers on a terrace generally fall into two categories: one, criminals are hiding there, and two, one might accidentally lose their footing and fall.”
“Not bad,” Ye Jiaoyue said with brief praise, then asked with some confusion, “What were you just doing?”
“I was getting some text messages. It’s my birthday today, my apologies,” Yi Ke said, leaning back lazily on the sofa.
Given the relatively relaxed atmosphere of the meeting, a flood of “happy birthday” messages immediately scrolled through the chat. Even Ye Jiaoyue added one. Only Zhuang Ningyu had no desire to join this celebration, forcibly steering the conversation back on topic.
“There’s one more thing. In this rule zone, there’s no mention of a way to earn Rule Coins, but both ingredients and bus tickets require cash to purchase. The monster had a wallet on him. We took out a hundred yuan while he was showering. Although we succeeded, we also successfully enraged him. This shows that this monster will not tolerate any form of theft. Considering there are still hundreds of people trapped within the rules, my suggestion is to think of another way to make money.”
Yi Ke, leaning sideways on the sofa, slightly pursed his lips when he heard this, a thoughtful glint in his eyes.
Zhuang Ningyu continued, “Everyone can think about it for now, but there’s no rush. Our first priority is still to verify the viability of the rule regarding the 155 bus and evacuate the public as much as possible. That’s all I have to say. Captain Ye?”
Ye Jiaoyue’s voice came through the headset: “Alright, that’s all for today. Everyone get some rest early. Patrol teams, be mindful of your handover times. Everyone stay vigilant at all times. Meeting adjourned.”
Zhuang Ningyu closed his laptop and reached out to catch the sugar-free throat lozenge tossed from across the room. Yi Ke pointed to his own throat. “Your voice is a little hoarse. Want some water?”
“I hope you can adopt a more professional work attitude in the future,” Zhuang Ningyu said, tossing the lozenge back. “Otherwise, you’ll find it difficult to pass your internship.”
Yi Ke raised an eyebrow. Perhaps sensing the other man was genuinely angry, he, for once, didn’t continue his antics.
“Go rest in the study,” Zhuang Ningyu said, picking up his phone to take a call on the balcony. The caller ID showed Huo Ting. He was the Director of Jincheng’s Order Maintenance Department and a good friend of Zhuang Ningyu’s. He got straight to the point. “How is it?”
“What do you mean, ‘how is it’? According to regulations, I’m not the one who should be making the progress report,” Zhuang Ningyu said, pressing two fingers against the hollow beneath his Adam’s apple to suppress a cough.
“I mean, how is that Yi kid? Is he harassing you again?” Huo Ting asked.
“He is, but there’s nothing I can do. I still haven’t figured out how to describe to Director Yi his son’s improper designs on me.” Zhuang Ningyu took a few breaths of the humid night air, which slightly eased the discomfort in his throat. He ignored the wicked, muffled laughter from the receiver and continued, “This is Yi Ke’s first time participating in a rule-breaking mission. His performance was a bit rash. I don’t think he has the ability to act independently.”
“But his evolution level is infinitely close to S-rank, and he passes all tests with high scores. Logically, he has a lot of room for improvement,” Huo Ting said. “And taking a huge step back, even if his evolution was only C-level, considering Director Yi just donated three hospitals to the Cangshan region, I’ll have to trouble you to guide him a little more. At least until this mission is over.”
Zhuang Ningyu had a bit of a headache. Huo Ting, hearing the exhaustion in his voice, didn’t say much more. Jincheng’s night was a flicker of neon lights, and one usually couldn’t see the stars. But the rule zone was an exception. The black-hole-like night could swallow all the light of modern civilization, leaving only a sky sprinkled with glittering stars. Zhuang Ningyu did not like this false and eerie beauty. He hung up and turned to go back into the living room, where he found two throat lozenges, a glass of warm water, and a small toiletry bag on the table.
The study was very quiet. It seemed this was the last bit of attentiveness the young master would offer today. After a quick wash-up, Zhuang Ningyu lay down on the sofa in his clothes. The snores from the master bedroom grew louder and louder. Even from the perspective of a “guest,” this monster was truly absurd. After all, what kind of guest with a normal brain would just go and sleep in the owner’s bed?
S-level Evolvers required very little sleep, especially on a night shrouded by the rules. In the latter half of the night, a light rain began to fall. The cold wind seeping through the window was made even chillier by the air conditioner. The familiar ache flared up in his injured leg bone. Just as Zhuang Ningyu was about to bend his leg to relieve it for a moment, a slightly scorching sensation suddenly came from his knee.
In the dead of night, this sudden warmth was comparable to a horror story. Zhuang Ningyu’s eyes flew open to see Yi Ke crouching in front of the sofa, carefully applying a heat patch to his knee. His bangs fell over his forehead, hiding most of his eyes. The handsome guy was real, the concern was real, but the profound, speechless shock mixed in Zhuang Ningyu’s heart at that moment was also real. Setting aside this bizarre, gold-medal-housekeeper level of service, how on earth did the other man manage to appear by his side so silently?
“Go to sleep.” Yi Ke didn’t say much. After tending to his old injury, he turned and strode coolly back to the study, leaving Zhuang Ningyu alone on the sofa to question his life.
Jing Lan: How’d it go?
Yi Ke: Perfect.
After replying to the message, he looked up toward the living room, wanting to admire his masterpiece again. But instead, he saw that Zhuang Ningyu had ripped the heat patch off his left knee and, just before a certain someone’s heart could shatter with a crash, moved it to his right knee.
Jing Lan: How perfect?
Yi Ke: …
Shut up.
The monster, on the other hand, was very quiet, sleeping soundly through the night. At 6:30 in the morning, Zhuang Ningyu opened the fridge on schedule to prepare breakfast. Yi Ke stood by the window, selectively forgetting that due to excessive nervousness last night, he had treated the wrong injury.
“Beep beep, beep beep!” A sound suddenly came from the master bedroom. Yi Ke was baffled. “That thing actually set an alarm for itself?”
The other team members marveled along with him. A work monster with a work soul—what a standard nine-to-fiver.
Zhuang Ningyu finished frying the eggs and placed them on a plate.
“Indeed. The monster’s schedule is exactly that of an office worker.”
Gets off work at 8:30 PM, alarm goes off at 7:30 AM. A healthy, two-point, one-line routine.
“Then he probably isn’t doing too well at his company, otherwise he wouldn’t be so full of resentment,” Yi Ke said, setting the dining chairs. Zhang Hui also came out to help. Everyone quickly prepared a full breakfast. At 7:30, the monster pushed open the master bedroom door. He was wearing his now-clean clothes. As usual, he ignored everyone’s presence, sat straight down at the table, and ate the entire meal with extreme lack of decorum.
“What would you like to eat tonight?” Zhuang Ningyu asked tentatively.
“Whatever,” the monster tossed out the cold word, put on his leather shoes, and left the apartment.
Only when the elevator doors opened and closed did everyone’s tense nerves relax. Zhang Hui asked, still shaken, “Will he come back again tonight?”
“Not necessarily, but we will find a way to get your family out of the rule zone as soon as possible,” Zhuang Ningyu said. “From now until 8:30 PM should be safe. I may have to trouble you to take stock of the food and cleaning supplies in your home, make a detailed list, and give it to me. Remember to stay away from the terrace.”
“Okay,” Zhang Hui nodded. “We’ll get it done as soon as we can.”
“Let’s go. We’ll check out the wet market,” Zhuang Ningyu said, calling over a few other team members. “It should be the morning market time right now.”
The monster needed to consume a large amount of food every day. A normal family’s refrigerator stock wouldn’t last long. Last night, the Order Department had already tried to transport ingredients from the outside into the rule zone, only to find it was unsuccessful.
That meant they could only buy from the morning market.
The community wasn’t large, and the convenience market was also small, but the variety of goods was quite complete. Vegetables, meat, seafood, and dry goods were all available. The entire market was filled with an unpleasant fishy stench, and the red lighting looked a bit eerie. The stall owners were also monsters. They sat stiffly on small stools, watching every customer who came to shop with either shrewd or sleepy eyes.
Bok choy was five yuan a bunch, and pork was thirty a jin—neither expensive nor cheap. The prices of goods sold at the Spring Breeze Supermarket were also within a normal range. A box of instant noodles was on sale for about five yuan.
For now, every household had some stock, so Zhuang Ningyu only bought a cheap bunch of green vegetables to break the hundred-yuan bill, which would be convenient for the bus rule test later.
The volunteers Ye Jiaoyue had found were the residents of 101. Both mother and daughter practiced martial arts, and the daughter was an Evolver. At sixteen, she was already 1.8 meters tall and could burst a sandbag with one punch. The father was a police officer from the local station named Song Ran. He was good friends with Qian Yue; the two of them had previously worked together to comfort the scammed Auntie Zhang.
“Don’t be afraid, baobei, you can do it,” Song Ran said, patting his daughter’s shoulder before hugging his wife. At ten o’clock sharp, the bus pulled out of the depot and stopped at the sign. Unsurprisingly, the driver was also a monster.
The mother and daughter boarded one after the other, dropped their Rule Coins into the fare box, and found seats. The door then closed. White fog billowed up from the floor of the bus, obscuring most of their vision. The vehicle started moving again. The world outside the window was instantly a chaotic blur, with only the occasional fleeting shadow of a tree.
The girl checked the time on her phone. According to the normal route, the bus should arrive in half an hour.
One minute, two minutes… ten minutes… fourteen minutes… twenty-nine minutes…
“Ding-dong, this is the final stop for the 155 community bus… hiss… we have arrived at Taoli Road Subway Station… hiss… Please take all your personal belongings and exit in an orderly fashion from the rear door… hiss… We wish you a pleasant journey.”
The announcement, distorted by static, sounded right on time. The mother and daughter didn’t hesitate for a second, quickly standing up and getting off through the rear door. The moment their feet touched the ground, the thick white fog instantly dissipated. A vast expanse of golden sunlight poured down, so bright it made their eyes blur.
“Quick, over here!” The staff who had been waiting at Exit D of the subway ran over to meet them.
Leaving Taoli Community via the 155 bus was feasible, but according to the rules, the passengers could only be a mother and her underage child.
“Is the population census done?”
“One moment, Captain Ye, almost there.” A team member updated and uploaded the census results. “There are a total of thirty-six households with underage children in the community. But luckily, since it’s summer vacation and with the high temperatures, more than half are traveling out of town. There are only thirteen households remaining at home. Three of the mothers are currently outside the rule zone. They will enter the community immediately to pick up their children and leave. The final total is thirty-seven people.”
Thirty-seven passengers would require thirty-seven tickets, costing seventy-four Rule Coins. Zhuang Ningyu handed over the wallet. “We currently have eighty-six left, enough to buy the tickets.”
Ye Jiaoyue said, “We need to group all the mothers and children as quickly as possible and send this batch out first.”
