Chapter 736: A Commission
After Lin Ye made his choice, the young girl quickly prepared a table of tea snacks and a pot of warm black tea. Mia walked into the patient room and sat down closer to the young girl’s side.
“Can you believe you actually turned down joining the Dinosaur Bandits? What a lack of vision.”
Mia stabbed a fruit that looked just like her, ignoring its struggles and screams as she mercilessly bit off its upper half.
“I don’t feel like kidnapping a stranger.”
Lin Ye took a sip of the warm tea. He didn’t dislike black tea, but he couldn’t savor its flavor the way others could.
“It has nothing to do with the surface goal. When it comes to the rules of Fate, you’re barely a beginner. So you shouldn’t turn down an offer from a senior.”
Mia took a sip of her black tea as well. Truth be told, she wasn’t used to drinking something that required such careful appreciation.
“Who’s a senior here?”
The young girl smacked Mia’s head with the spine of a book.
“So I should pick one of the other two options?”
Lin Ye honestly didn’t know if he had made the right choice.
“No. The more influencing factors there are, the harder Fate is to predict. Even I can’t predict your Fate because there are too many things affecting you, and every single one of them is a pain in the ass. I can only make rough guesses, which is why I gave you advice.”
The young girl leaned against the hospital bed and gazed at Lin Ye with calm eyes.
If she were facing an ordinary person—or even an ordinary Controller—she could accurately state what would happen to them next. But Lin Ye was different. Too many factors influenced his Fate. And Lin Ye himself was one of those hard-to-predict types, which made things worse.
“……So you’re saying I’m about to run into some kind of trouble, and you gave me two options to handle it?”
As for the source of the trouble, Lin Ye already had a hunch.
“That’s about it.”
Since Lin Ye wasn’t going out, the young girl could finally speak up.
“What a shame. If you’d chosen to join the Dinosaur Bandits, you could’ve relied on my strength.”
Mia was still bitter about not being able to kidnap a noble.
Mainly because she couldn’t squeeze a ransom out of it.
“Yeah, really a shame.”
If he’d known this was coming, Lin Ye would’ve picked that purple book.
“Staying here isn’t a bad choice either. You can find a better battlefield somewhere more suitable for you.”
The young girl ate her tea snacks. She didn’t think Lin Ye’s choice was a problem.
“Can I ask what kind of trouble it is?”
Lin Ye tried a tea snack. He didn’t mind sweets.
“I don’t know either. I just saw some signs. Like how the sky darkens before rain. The flow of Fate works the same way.”
If it were an ordinary problem, the young girl wouldn’t have given such uncertain options.
“Alright. I’ll handle it properly.”
Lin Ye took a sip of his black tea. Sure enough, for him, the tea snacks were still too sweet.
One piece was enough. Any more, and it’d be too much.
Lin Ye stayed in the patient room for a while longer, finishing an entire pot of tea before returning to the Shelter.
…………………………………
“Meow?”
Little Black curiously slithered over to Lin Ye. It rarely saw him wake up this quickly.
Lin Ye picked up Little Black and stroked it for a bit before getting dressed and leaving the Shelter.
Outside the Shelter, it seemed a bit more lively. The Survivors were all preparing for the Sunday War Front event.
Lin Ye took the Bus to Library Station. He needed to find a good battlefield.
Since he wasn’t sure what kind of trouble was coming for him, he planned to prepare as thoroughly as possible.
The library’s second floor was packed with books. Lin Ye walked around the floor twice, still unsure which book to read.
Many places could count as his home turf, which was why he was hesitating over which book to choose.
The enemy was a trouble even that young girl couldn’t see clearly. He had to pick a battlefield with enough weight behind it.
But he couldn’t choose somewhere like the Emerald Capital. The enemy wasn’t stupid; they wouldn’t waltz into such a high-risk area.
“Huh?”
Lin Ye stopped. He spotted a book with no title on its spine.
It was the first time he’d found a book like that in the library.
Lin Ye pulled out the book with a pure white cover. The only thing on the front was a pitch-black question mark.
He opened the book. Inside, everything was black. If he looked closely, he’d see that every page was filled with those black question marks.
‘What is this? A complete collection of question marks?’
Lin Ye flipped through the entire book from start to finish but found no content.
It seemed the question marks were the entirety of the book.
‘That might not be bad…’
Lin Ye sat down at a table and started seriously reading the book. He wasn’t sure where it would take him either.
After reading the question mark book, Lin Ye left the library and returned to the Shelter.
[Obtained: Exploration Card Pack]
‘…Better play it safe.’
Before setting out, Lin Ye took his pets to the Rest Area and enjoyed a hearty lunch.
Xiao Bai seemed the same as always. She didn’t say much.
Back at the Shelter, Lin Ye sorted his equipment. Then he inserted the newly opened Exploration Card into the card reader.
[Detected Identity Card—Blank. Import random identity?]
“Yes.”
[Adding a title may affect the Exploration Mission and initial identity. Add title?]
“Add title… Master of Ritual Studies.”
[Extracting Exploration Mission…]
[Exploration Mission extraction complete. Importing…]
[Import complete]
Lin Ye’s vision went black, and he completely lost consciousness.
………………………………
When he came to, Lin Ye found himself sitting in a shabby office.
His body was still his body, but now he felt like an ordinary person. He couldn’t sense his mental energy or spiritual energy.
He couldn’t open his loot space either. The Sacrificial Night looked like an antique, and all his spiritual energy items had turned into ordinary accessories.
Voices came from outside the door. A few seconds later, someone knocked.
“Come in.”
Lin Ye leaned back in his squeaky chair and calmly watched the door.
Three people entered the room: a young female secretary in a business suit and two female students in school uniforms.
“Mr. Lin, they have a commission they’d like you to handle.”
The secretary spoke in a very formal tone.
“What kind of commission?”
Though he didn’t know the situation here, Lin Ye quickly got into character.
“Detective, my family member disappeared from their room.”
Ephesus looked at Lin Ye very seriously as she spoke.
“Describe the incident in detail.”
Lin Ye looked back at Ephesus just as seriously. He planned to use this commission to first get a grasp of the situation here.