Chapter 1 Midsummer

Mid-July, high summer.

After entering the twenty-first century, almost every year at this time, S City would experience a round of continuous high-temperature days lasting more than twenty days. Although the weather forecast reported thirty-eight or thirty-nine degrees every day, you only had to walk in the sun to know... it was definitely above forty-five degrees.

Of course, for someone like Feng Bujue who didn't have to go out to work... it didn't have much impact, except for paying a little more for electricity (the air conditioner could never be turned off).

July 16th, 10 PM.

Feng Bujue was in his own bathroom, doing something he was very reluctant to do, but had to do.

"I say... as a being who considers herself superior to me, and is mentally female... why do you always tirelessly order me to bathe you..." Feng Bujue muttered as he rubbed Asazhi's back.

"Isn't it obvious..." Asazhi had a happy expression, enjoying the feeling of the shampoo bubbles floating on her body. "In cat form, I can't use toiletries flexibly."

"You can change back to your original demon form, wash, and then change back," Feng Bujue suggested.

"Hmph..." Asazhi snorted coldly. "First, if I do that, the cat's body is still dirty. Only my demon body is clean. Second, I don't want you peeking at me."

"First of all, I have no intention of peeking at your true form," Feng Bujue immediately replied. "Secondly, even if I did have the intention, I probably wouldn't have the ability to carry it out, because I would definitely be detected and stopped by you when I did..." He added some more shampoo to his palm. "Furthermore, even if I could peek without being detected, you would very likely find out afterward... the consequences would be unimaginable."

Brother Jue finished speaking slowly, concluding, "In summary... I have no intention."

"Don't give me that crap, meow!" Asazhi immediately roared, swinging her tail at him.

Feng Bujue was hit in the chest, falling backward onto the ground in an ungainly heap.

"Saying so much nonsense, doesn't it just boil down to having the desire but not the courage!" Asazhi raised her right paw, showing her sharp little claws, and pointed at Brother Jue with a condescending attitude. "You've considered everything so thoroughly and still seriously deny it! You're quite the try-hard, meow!"

"I have to correct you," Feng Bujue quickly sat up again, continuing in a serious tone. "Even if I really had the intention of observing your true form, that intention would stem from human curiosity about unknown creatures and would have nothing to do with the 'lust' you mentioned. Hmph... twenty-seven kinds of cross-species pLAy or something, I've never even thought..."

"Cross your ass!" Interrupting Brother Jue, Asazhi kicked him in the face with a flying paw. "You calmly stated the specific number, meow!"

This time... Feng Bujue was knocked out for a few minutes, but fortunately, he wasn't seriously injured...

...

Half an hour later, Feng Bujue finally finished serving Asazhi and returned to the living room.

"Sigh... knowing that she's a demon sent to monitor me, and still having to bathe her, cook for her, and treat her like an ancestor... I wonder when these days will end..." He grumbled all the way to the game pod.

"Hoo..." Brother Jue stretched and moaned comfortably, then lay down in the pod.

【Welcome to the company's product. Scanning has begun, please wait.】

【Scanning complete. Confirmed citizen ID: sh13***313, name: Feng Bujue; connected device: nL2055 standard single-person game pod, no abnormal external hardware detected; cardiopulmonary function within normal range; nerve connection program ready. Please select the connection type.】

【Connection type is sleep mode. Adjusting... adjustment complete. Please set the time to load the game, or return to the previous options.】

【Setting complete. The connection program will start on July 17, 2055, at 0:00 AM. Good night.】

After setting the login time, Feng Bujue calmed his mind and quickly fell asleep. When he opened his eyes again, he had arrived in the login space.

"Okay... let's check the emails first." As usual, Feng Bujue opened his mailbox first.

While Brother Jue checks his emails, let's take a look at his current character attributes (as you all probably expected)...

Title: 【Guice Kuangmou (Crafty Strategist)], Title Ability: 【Liao Shi Ru Shen (Foresight)】

Experience Points: 2315670048000000, Skill Points: 7604, Game Coins: 982000.

Specializations: General A, Machinery A, Investigation C, Combat A, Shooting C, Medical D, Spiritual Arts A, Summoning B.

Inventory (19/25): Composite Anti-Gravity Catapult, Vajra Bell, Survival Value Replenishment Potion (Medium) *5, Endless Grenade Magazine, wjQ-308 Military Shovel (Indestructible), Wo Ca Lei Nao De Zhu Gu *1, Fraudulent Pocket Watch, Must-Break Defense Blade, Chuck Norris's Razor, Oxygen Pipe, Bane's Blood *1, Yi Da, [Feng, Lin, Huo, Shan, Yin, Lei (Wind, Forest, Fire, Mountain, Shadow, Thunder)], Blackbeard's Skull.

Equipment: Death Poker (Psionic Weapon), Echo Armor, Artemis's Embrace, Alchemist King's Taunt, Ta Xu, Phantom Lady's Caress, Bell's Everyday Knife, Smiling Face.

Storage Room (11/15): Puzzle Card - Sheep *2, Puzzle Card - Ox, Puzzle Card - Twins, Puzzle Card - Crab, Puzzle Card - Lion, Puzzle Card - Libra, Puzzle Card - Scorpio, Puzzle Card - Sagittarius, Puzzle Card - Aquarius, Puzzle Card - Pisces, "Poker Hero" Hero ID Card.

Skill Bar (12/12): 【Mekatorque's Power】【Ling Shi Ju Shen Shu-Gai (Spirit Consciousness Gathering Art-Modified)】【Xie Wang Yan Sha Lian Yu Jiao (Evil King's Flame Killing Hell Scorch)】【Moon Step】【Lan Jiao (Storm Leg)】【Fei Sha Feng Zhong Zhuan (Flying Sand in the Wind)】【Qigong Cannon】【Baseball Fist】【Bear Child's Lower Whip Leg】【Ling Xi Yi Zhi (Numinous Rhinoceros Finger)】【Summoning Technique - Musashi Koganei】【Summoning Technique - Ma Sun】

Unequipped Skills: 【Lian Bing Shu Shi De Zhi Zhuo (Ice Art Magician's Persistence)】【Bu Name Cao Shuai De Wei Xiu (Not-So-Careless Repair)】【Nan Dou Fei Long Quan (South Dipper Flying Dragon Fist)】

As the data shows, Feng Bujue has grown a lot in the past twenty or so days...

The level increase goes without saying, and the harvest of over seven thousand skill points is also quite rich. His Machinery and Spiritual Arts specializations have both been raised to A-level. The inventory slots have also been expanded again (because the number of strange items that need to be carried around is increasing). As for the puzzle cards... after some effort, he has finally collected eleven cards from the "Zodiac" theme, with only one card related to "Virgo" missing to complete the set.

In terms of skills, Brother Jue replaced 【Bu Name Cao Shuai De Wei Xiu (Not-So-Careless Repair)】 with 【Mekatorque's Power】. Although the skill has many random factors, from the effect, it is not bad to use it to level up the Machinery specialization.

As for items and equipment, there are two visible changes: First, he used a 【Bane's Blood】; second, he brought back a piece of equipment from Zhuan Jie Zun's brain world (in fact, he has been using it for some time) - Smiling Face.

This pale mask is like an exaggerated and eerie smiling face, with its corners stretching all the way to the ears. In a sense, it suits Feng Bujue quite well.

【Name: Smiling Face】

【Type: Armor】

【Quality: Excellent】

【Defense: Weak】

【Attribute: None】

【Effect: Negates one mental attack targeting you (one-hour cooldown, effect will not trigger if the attack is too strong or too weak)】

【Equipment Requirement: Level 45 or higher】

【Note: I am the terrible smiling man. What does the smiling man laugh at? Laughing at you, laughing at himself, laughing at everything. What does his laughter mean? It means your sins and his pain. He throws this sin on your heads, he spits this pain on your faces! I laugh... and that is to say, I am crying.】

The above is Brother Jue's attribute change. Next, let's return to the story...

"Okay, there are fewer and fewer emails lately, that's good." Feng Bujue finished processing his emails and opened the social menu to see if anyone in the club was online. He happened to see that the statuses of the IDs 【Si Yu Ruo Li】 and 【Shi Shang Hua Jian】 had changed from "in game" to "idle."

So, Brother Jue immediately sent an invitation to those two to join the conference room...