[System: Dear player, the current level of Xingfu Snack Shop is Lv.2 (2200/3000). 800 JJ Coins are still needed to level up. Wishing you a pleasant life :)]
Another new week began. After checking her current JJ Coins and the upgrade progress, Qianben Xixi opened the shop door and started business.
Since the shop leveled up, business had gradually improved a lot. Sales were increasing day by day, and leveling up had become easier than before.
In just over a week, she was almost ready to gather the required JJ Coins for the upgrade and unlock a new shop.
On another front, her novel had been serialized on the website for almost a month. Readers were increasing, and her earnings were growing steadily. Plus, the latest issue of the magazine hitting the shelves today would also serialize her novel. If sales went well, there would be another new income stream.
Everything was progressing smoothly. Her life in the Kexue World was gradually getting on track.
Except for…
Qianben Xixi picked up her phone. The call log with Gin still stopped from a week ago.
That day, after venting her frustration, she went to sleep feeling refreshed. It was only after waking up that she realized what she had said to her superior.
Of course, she said it, and she wasn't afraid. But her superior… was the most petty person imaginable.
Sometimes, when this man got petty, he could be more terrifying and vindictive than a woman.
He usually seemed fine on the surface, but just when you thought the matter was over, he might launch a surprise attack at any time, secretly setting you up for revenge, catching you off guard.
That kind of person was the most troublesome.
You couldn't be on guard all the time. Although the retaliation probably wouldn't be too extreme, getting inexplicably screwed over was still very annoying.
Now, a week had passed. It was calm, even unusually so—no emails, no tasks. This felt even more abnormal.
Like the calm before the storm. Behind this tranquility, a bigger storm was brewing and gathering.
"Give me three ice creams."
It seemed a customer had arrived. Hearing the voice, Qianben Xixi looked up and found it was actually Ran and Sonoko.
"Oh, how do you have time to come today?" Qianben Xixi asked. "No school today?"
"It's a holiday today, no classes," Sonoko Suzuki plopped onto a bar stool, leaning on the table. "We went with Ran to her karate competition today. Ugh, it's so hot."
"Oh, is it already over?" Qianben Xixi handed the prepared ice creams to the two. "Who's the third ice cream for?"
"It's for that brat~" Sonoko Suzuki took the ice cream and took a big bite. "So refreshing. I don't know why, but your ice cream tastes really good."
"Yes, it's already over," Ran Mori said, taking the ice cream and sitting down next to Sonoko.
"Oh? The brat you mean is Conan?" Qianben Xixi said, then asked Ran Mori, "So how did the competition go? Was it okay?"
"Yeah, I made it to the finals," Ran Mori nodded somewhat shyly.
"Of course Ran is amazing!" Sonoko Suzuki said. "Making it to the finals is only natural, right?"
Just as they were talking, Conan ran in, holding a magazine and his beloved skateboard.
"Here." Seeing his flushed face from running, Qianben Xixi directly handed him the last ice cream. She asked curiously, "Why didn't you come with Ran and the others?"
"Who knows about him? He suddenly said he wanted to buy a magazine, so we came ahead first," Sonoko Suzuki complained while eating her ice cream. "This brat is always causing trouble."
"Hmph." Conan let out a disdainful laugh, placing the magazine directly on the table and taking the ice cream. "Thank you, Sister Natsuya."
"Hey, I was the one who paid for the ice cream. Why aren't you thanking me?" Sonoko instantly protested.
"Oh, thank you, Sister Sonoko," Conan replied perfunctorily, which immediately provoked Sonoko into shouting angrily.
"Ran, look at him!"
"Alright, alright~" Ran Mori awkwardly laughed, trying to smooth things over. "Why are you two arguing again?"
"Hmph, who wants to argue with a kid?"
"Hah, as if I want to either."
Seeing the two about to start arguing again, Ran quickly changed the subject. "Conan, what magazine did you buy?"
She picked up the magazine Conan had placed on the table and looked at it. "Huh, another detective novel?"
"Oh, I forgot to mention!" Conan put down his ice cream. "This is Sister Natsuya's issue! I specifically went to buy it earlier for this—her novel starts serializing in the magazine today."
"What?!" Both Sonoko and Ran were shocked. Sonoko swiftly snatched the magazine from Ran's hands and began flipping through it rapidly, muttering, "Where, where? Tell me quickly, where is it?"
"Here." Conan reached over and flipped to a specific page for her. "Right here."
"My Infinite Horror Game…?" Sonoko read aloud, then asked in confusion, "Xiaxi, did you write this? Why do I recognize every word, but when they're put together, I can't understand it?"
"Tch, of course you wouldn't understand," Conan teased, making Sonoko want to hit him on the head again.
"Yeah, I wrote it." When Conan took out the magazine, Qianben Xixi was also surprised for a moment. She hadn't expected Conan to buy it right away—she hadn't even had time to get a copy herself.
"It's like a game, but a real one. You can think of it as real people entering a game to play a horror game," Qianben Xixi briefly explained to the two of them.
"Wow, that sounds thrilling!" Sonoko said. "But why didn't you write a romance novel? I thought you'd write something like that."
"Will this be really scary?" Ran was curious and wanted to read it, but being naturally timid, she was quite afraid of horror elements.
"It might be a bit scary," Qianben Xixi admitted honestly. "If you really want to read it, you can have Conan read it to you."
In light of Conan being the first to think of buying the magazine, she decided to give him a little assist.
"Yeah, yeah, Sister Ran, I can read it to you when we get home~" Conan, having received the assist signal, immediately brightened up and said cutely, "That way, you won't be scared~"
"Hmph, always trying to take advantage of your Sister Ran," Sonoko couldn't stand it and delivered a critical blow on the spot.
Thus, when Conan left, he had a big bump on his head, looking quite pitiful.
After seeing the group off, Qianben Xixi's phone, which was lying on the table, suddenly vibrated.
She opened it and saw that it was Gin, who hadn't contacted her in a long time.
["Action tonight, stand by.—Gin"]
Tsk, even more brief than before. This man is definitely still angry. At least he used to add "at all times" before "stand by."
Qianben Xixi thought to herself as she put away her phone.
…
Meanwhile, inside the Porsche 356A driving down the road, Vodka looked puzzled at his boss.
"Boss, tonight's operation doesn't require a sniper, right? Why call Asti?"
Gin, sitting in the passenger seat, put down his cigarette, exhaled the smoke from his lungs, and then slowly spoke. "She knows computers."
"Oh, boss, you mean having her go to Gunma with me today to monitor that guy's computer?" Vodka's memory was decent, instantly recalling that she was a graduate student at Tōdō University studying something related to computers.
"No, she and I will stay in Tokyo," Gin arranged. "You'll go alone."
"Oh, okay." Vodka nodded. "Boss, do you think that guy Itakura Taku will obediently hand over the software?"
"Hmph, if he's not obedient, kill him," Gin said disdainfully. "The Organization doesn't need disobedient people."
"Understood, boss." After Vodka spoke, silence fell inside the car.
Perhaps feeling a bit bored, Vodka took advantage of the traffic jam to speak up again. "Boss, I recently read a novel that I thought was pretty good. Want to give it a try?"
"What novel?" Gin, sharp-eyed, reached out and pulled a magazine from the gap between the seats. "This detective novel?"
"Yes, boss, that's the one." Vodka nodded.
Gin snorted coldly. "This one used to be okay, but now it's filled with nothing but nonsense."
"No, no, boss! This issue is different!" Vodka enthusiastically recommended. "There's one that's especially good, a horror game novel. It's really great!"
Hearing "horror game," Gin showed a slight interest.
Vodka continued, "I've actually been following it since the author started serializing it on the website. It's really good! I even tipped him 1,000 JJ Coins. It's just that this author is always taking breaks, so the updates are unstable."
"Oh?" Gin listened while flipping through the magazine in his hands. "You mean this one?"
…
That night, when Qianben Xixi received Gin's notification and got into his vintage Porsche for the operation, she saw him holding a magazine, looking down at it, and occasionally showing a strange smile.
"What are you reading?" Qianben Xixi curiously leaned in for a look. Instantly, the names Hisoka and Kuroro jumped into view.
Holy shit, this looks fucking familiar!