??Chapter 31: Chapter 23 The Invisible Guest 1
Chapter 31: Chapter 23 The Invisible Guest 1
In the streets of K City, a gaunt man with a pale face wandered aimlessly.
With his hands in his pockets, stooping, and a cut scar on his mouth’s corner, pedestrians who passed by occasionally stopped for a few seconds to look at his sowhat disgusting face before hurrying away.
Of course, Chen Xiao didn’t care about that; he was dealing with a very annoying issue right now.
…
Although Chen Xiao’s mind contained knowledge that others did not possess, and his perceptual abilities and thinking speed were far above that of an average person, his mory was blank: apart from knowing his na, he knew nothing else about himself—not his birthday, parents, whether he had siblings or friends, where he ca from, if he had been to school, or his past occupations. In short, he didn’t even have a way to prove his own identity!
This led directly to many tricky problems, such as his current one—he found he couldn’t rent a house!
In the past few hours, he had first walked out of the “K City Disease Prevention Center,” which was also “Anomalous Creature Research Area No. 15.” Then, he stood for half an hour on a rural road until he finally found a taxi driver brave enough to take him.
Well, who could bla them, when he didn’t look like a good person?
“Brother, where to?”
“Downtown.”
“Uh… where in downtown?”
“Anywhere.”
“…”
After a few brief exchanges and a subsequent awkward and dull trip, Chen Xiao arrived at the bustling yet challenging city center. Next, he started facing the “rental problem”!
“Ah, I’ve got to figure sothing out! At this rate, I might be detained as an illegal immigrant or sothing,” Chen Xiao murmured as he sat on the curb, frowning. If it were not for his suit looking sowhat decent, he would have been taken for a vagrant.
…
…
It might have been due to good luck or simply to keep this rather unpopular story going, but at this mont, the black phone in Chen Xiao’s pocket suddenly vibrated.
“Hmm? What’s this?” Chen Xiao was slightly startled and took out the phone.
Then, he saw this ssage on the screen.
“New optional mission available.”
He naturally clicked on it imdiately.
————————————
Class D Optional Mission:
A new Class D Anomalous Phenonon has appeared in the XX block of K City, 3km from your position.
No relevant data available for inquiry.
Do you accept this mission?
Yes——————No
————————————
“So close to … It almost feels like it was tailored for ,” Chen Xiao muttered to himself and, without a second thought, selected “Yes.”
“Hehehe, I didn’t expect my first mission to co so quickly!”
Frankly, field agents actively taking on missions were virtually nonexistent, and Chen Xiao might just be the only one who was actually excited about getting one. He grinned broadly, the gloominess from being unable to rent a room instantly dispelled.
At that mont, the phone screen flickered a few tis and then displayed a map-like interface. The map showed Chen Xiao’s current location, and two streets away, a red dot was flashing incessantly.
“Hmm… This is designed quite user-friendly!” Chen Xiao inwardly praised as he eagerly stood up and followed the direction indicated on the map.
…
A few minutes later, he arrived at the base of an apartnt building. Chen Xiao glanced up, noting that the overall decor wasn’t bad. It was located close to the street, the ground floor of the apartnt housed a row of small shops with a steady stream of people coming in and out; nothing seed amiss.
“Hmm… At this mont, it feels like I’m the most abnormal thing in this scene!” Chen Xiao habitually made a sarcastic comnt.
In fact, most newly discovered Class D anomalies appeared normal at first glance. The Anomaly Detectors scattered around various locations by the Foundation and the monitoring satellites in the sky could only provide an approximate location and were unable to specify what the anomalous item was.
And this was where most Class D missions got difficult. For example, there was once an anomalous item that was a cup. Any liquid drunk from this cup, regardless of its nature—even urine—would taste like the drinker’s favorite beverage. To find this anomalous item, a poor field agent spent a whole week, only to receive a ager 20 points as a reward, not even enough to buy a few titanium bullets.
Thus, most of those who took on Class D missions would wait until the item’s peculiarities beca very obvious before starting the task, to avoid thankless effort.
Chen Xiao clearly didn’t care about these matters. With no clue to begin with, he was ready to employ a most magnificent ability that humanity had evolved to possess.
Language!
Right, if you can’t tell at a glance, you can’t just ask?
Without a second thought, Chen Xiao walked straight into the nearest cafe.
…
The shop was small, a few tables arranged by the window where sunlight fell on the floral fabric, and the air had a sweet and peaceful scent.
Chen Xiao leisurely approached the counter, taking in the details of his surroundings as he did.
“Do you have any cake?” he asked, trying his best to maintain a slight smile.
The man behind the counter was in his twenties, a bit chubby, wearing a pale pink apron that made him look sowhat adorable. He glanced at Chen Xiao’s face, frowned slightly, then quickly switched to a smiling expression.
“Yes, sir, which kind would you like?” he said, pointing to the nu on the counter.
Chen Xiao didn’t even look at it: “The sweetest one!”
…
After a while, the chubby clerk placed a small piece of cake in front of Chen Xiao. Chen Xiao managed to put on a polite smile as best he could, but a flicker of disgust passed in the clerk’s eyes.
Chen Xiao didn’t mind, tasting a bit of the frosting with his spoon, seeming to enjoy it.
Suddenly, he blurted out, “By the way, has anything strange happened around here lately?”
The clerk was taken aback, his eyes darting subtly before he blurted out without thinking, “No!” Then, stealing a very discrete glance at Chen Xiao’s eyes, he added, “Nothing strange!”
Chen Xiao took another spoonful of frosting and, with a small smile said, “Thanks!”
Then he sat down with the small piece of cake at the table furthest inside.
This position allowed him to watch the flow of people outside the window and keep the entire coffee shop within his line of sight…
“To think there really is sothing strange going on, and the clerk answered without thinking, which ans he’s been pondering this as well, yet there’s curiosity without panic… Could it be that he doesn’t care? Or is it that a strange custor frequents this shop these days?” Chen Xiao pondered as he stuffed a big bite of cake into his mouth.
The flow of people outside dwindled, the sun listlessly emitted its remaining rays of light, and Chen Xiao remained in his seat, now with four empty plates on the table. He had been sitting here for almost three hours, watching the clerk’s expressions. In the last ten minutes, the chubby clerk kept glancing at the clock on the wall, now for the seventeenth ti, with increasing frequency.
“It seems that the strange custor will co today,” Chen Xiao thought.
Indeed, not long after, the cafe door was pushed open, and a young girl walked in.
“About 25 years old, a simple ponytail, decent-looking overall if not for the freckles on her face, lives alone, stays at ho for long periods, sits in front of the computer for over ten hours a day, has irregular eating habits, recently changed her living environnt, is troubled, and tired…” These details all simultaneously popped into Chen Xiao’s mind as he excitedly chewed a large bite of his cake, almost smiling inadvertently, but he quickly composed himself.
“A cup of coffee…” the girl said faintly, her voice hardly audible, but the chubby clerk clearly knew what she wanted and imdiately started the coffee machine.
“She cos often, at least every day recently,” Chen Xiao surmised, then watched as she chose a seat close to the door, her back to him, and pulled out a new but thick notebook from her bag.
“Student? No, a writer! She must have started a new novel recently, still brainstorming the plot or perhaps stuck on a scene… But what’s bothering her isn’t this, it’s…” Chen Xiao frowned slightly, “No good, can’t figure it out!”
At that mont, the clerk brought a cup of coffee to the girl. She nodded politely, indicating that it was enough to just place it on the table. Then she ran her hand through her hair and sighed deeply, looking frustrated.
Chen Xiao hesitated for half a second, then picked up his half-finished cake and walked over to her.
… and sat down right across from her.
This was an abrupt move, coupled with Chen Xiao’s off-putting face, which would typically put anyone on high alert, asking about the situation or even leaving.
However, the girl did not react defensively. She rely glanced at Chen Xiao from the corner of her eye, without a single question.
“Hey, hey… just going to ignore ? Doesn’t she have any self-defense awareness? Or are all novelists a bunch of eccentrics?” Surprised by the girl’s indifferent attitude, Chen Xiao paused and muttered to himself.
…
…
The awkwardness persisted for a few seconds.
Eventually, Chen Xiao decided it wasn’t working out, “Can’t seem to figure out the thinking patterns of this woman, but eight out of ten chances she’s a bit of an airhead, so why not just get to the point directly!” he thought to himself.
He then cleared his throat, signaling to her that he was about to speak.
Unexpectedly, the girl across from him suddenly looked up sharply, staring at Chen Xiao with a puzzled look as if he had just sat down.
“Who are you?” she asked cautiously.
Chen Xiao’s eyes twitched, thinking, “Hey, are you single-celled or sothing? Are you always this slow to react?”
Despite his inner complaints, he imdiately straightened the collar of his suit to appear more respectable. At this mont, he decided to abandon the whole spiel he had prepared, suspecting that this girl might deviate from his carefully laid-out conversation plan with her unpredictable responses.
So, Chen Xiao, full of adolescent bravado and without beating around the bush, said, “Hello miss, I’m here to help you!”
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