Ren Suo selected a hat with a green glow in “Passing Hats” and waited as the Seeker collected the resources in the automated plot sequence.
He logged on to the intranet to see if there was any new information.
“Neisser Ren” had been quiet for the past ten days and Ren Suo expected the discussion about the methods of “Neisser Ren” to have died down, while other topics would become a more popular topic of discussion.
However, as soon as Ren Suo logged on to the intranet, he realized that the “Neisser Ren Special Task Force” had uploaded a trending post!
Ren Suo had completely no idea who was in the “Neisser Ren Task Force” and neither did he think that they would be able to find out anything. Ren Suo was even more convinced of that as they had no questions for the Special Advisors over the last few days.
However, the post that they uploaded shocked even Ren Suo –
“The Identity of the Female Character in A Strong Warrior Ascends 10,000 Meters Has Been Confirmed”
Eh?
Ren Suo clicked into the post and found that there were pictures of the forest, and a series of footprints were marked in red on the pictures.
[These are the footprints of the female main character (hereinafter referred to as MC) from “A Strong Warrior Ascends 10,000 Meters” which the Task Force discovered. We traced the footsteps all the way from the Hyjal Peak to an unmarked lake within the Tedemia Mountain Range 26 kilometers away.]
[Footprints of the MC ended abruptly in the lake. Strangely, the trees around the lake had begun to wither in the summer. The lake is connected to a subterranean river and is a habitat for aquatic plants and fishes.]
[Amongst the underwater plants, we discovered a skeleton.]
A skeleton?!
A picture of the skeleton was shown. Buried in the soil underwater, plants were growing out of the eyes and a large part of the sternum was deeply anchored. It looked relatively old.
[We have ascertained through investigation that this skeleton has been there for 400 years and is that of a male.]
[Through prospecting, we discovered traces of man-made excavation from the bed of the lake not far from this skeleton. We managed to make use of traceback abilities to discover that another skeleton was present in the same area until not too long ago.]
“Currently, the Task Force has made the following deduction: the MC is the other skeleton. She was reborn due to the rejuvenation of Reiki, 400 years after her death. Her strong obsession allowed her to absorb nutrients from her surroundings and eventually returned to the world. The MC is most likely an ancient Practitioner who made a pilgrimage to the Hyjal peak from continental Europe with her partner, but they lost themselves in the Tedemia Mountain Range and eventually died in the dense forests. A century later, the area where they died turned into a lake.]
That was the end of the post, and replies were disallowed. Ren Suo clicked out of the post and found that the question “Is the implementation of the Elf Protection Act the goal of ‘Neisser Ren’, and could he possibly be an elf?” was raised again.
The same question already appeared ten days ago which received numerous answers with plenty of like. With the question becoming a top discussion again, it seemed that many researchers who previously disagreed with the views in the forum had now changed their minds, after reading the post made by the Special Task Force.
The most liked reply had also been edited to include one more point:
“Neisser Ren could be the spokesperson of elves, dead elves, or ghost demons.”
In fact, even Ren Suo thought that the investigations of the Special Task Force were right this time.
He did not know what the true form of the female Seeker was either.
Excluding the possibility that the female Seeker appeared out of thin air, she must have been something that once existed on Earth.
From Ren Suo’s perspective though, the female Seeker was simply a matchstick character who jumped around. He had never thought of the origins of the female Seeker previously.
He just did not expect that the task force actually headed down to the Hyjal peak to investigate, as part of their investigation of “Neisser Ren”. They even brought a powerful Retracer who managed to find the place where the Seeker first appeared.
“So, the skeleton that disappeared is very likely that of the female Seeker. If I had chosen a male character at first, the skeleton that the Task Force discovered would have been that of the female Seeker instead…”
“Everything in the world does not appear out of nowhere. Is the Small World game console also making use of what’s already present to create its games…?”
The information about the Seeker was marked as an important reference material and not secret, which was why it was published on the intranet, although it would never appear on the internet which was open to anyone.
At that juncture, Ren Suo realized another advantage of his present identity: he could learn more about the Small World game console through the nation’s investigations of “Neisser Ren”.
For example, it would not have been possible for Ren Suo to investigate the origins of the female Seeker by himself. Only the Task Force which had the manpower and resource support from the nation had the capabilities to investigate so thoroughly.
In summary, the Ren family had the blood of the Huo family, Zhao Zili was actually a dead person, and the All-Devouring Soul was merely a pangolin in the beginning…
Ren Suo looked down at his mobile phone and said to himself, “Then… is this also something that is already present in reality?”
In the lit, circular house, over a dozen floating ghosts surrounded the round table. The Seeker was sitting opposite the girl shrouded in a black mist which seemed to say “either you die, or I will not be able to return to my family”.
The Seeker put down the hat with a green glow. She now had 35 Courage and 30 Warmth, and was ready to continue another trial of the hat.
But there were no more suitable hats.
In the Seeker’s vision, all of the unconverted hats had been worn once by the girl shrouded in the black mist. Those hat glowed strangely in red, greatly contrasting the green glow of the converted hats.
From the beginning, Ren Suo started the challenge from the ordinary hats. Even though he had not attempted the trials of any of the red hats, he already knew that they likely meant a more challenging trial, so he naturally converted the less challenging ordinary hats first.
That was because when the Seeker chose a hat, the girl shrouded in the black mist who sat directly opposite the Seeker would also don the hat that was in front of her. When the Seeker replaced a hat, the girl would also put down the hat which was now glowing in red.
However, when the girl donned a transformed hat, nothing will happen and the green glow of the hat would remain.
Although Ren Suo purposely avoided those hats, there were already half a dozen of them glowing in red when the Seeker first arrived. By the time the Seeker converted six hats, only the glowing red hats remained.
Nonetheless, Ren Suo realized that a new hat would appear each day, and a new ghost would also appear at the round table. That new hat naturally became the first hat that Ren Suo would pick every day.
Ren Suo returned to the living room and decided to continue playing with the large television screen.
After all, it was the first time he was going to challenge a red hat, and he wanted to be able to see more details.
The moment the Seeker donned the red hat, Ren Suo immediately knew that it was the biggest challenge he would face in completing “Passing Hats”.
[The Seeker donned Wen Junjie’s hat.]
Unexpectedly, in the trial of the red hat, the Seeker was no longer the owner of the hat but was instead a bystander.
Furthermore, the childhood and past memories of the hat owner were all skipped, proceeding directly to the decision-making phase.
Ren Suo was not glad, for he realized that if all the hats on the table were glowing in red, he would not have had any opportunity to collect Courage and Warmth resources!
Surely, he had made the right choice to conquer the hats without the red glow first.
On the screen, a junior high school boy who was carrying a schoolbag had just returned home. His attire was sloppy, his clothes were stained with mud, and there were fresh cuts on his face. The moment he stepped into the house, a middle-aged woman hurried over and asked, “What did you do? Did you get into a fight? Your clothes are all dirty, quickly take them off.”
The boy yelled in response, “I’m fine, don’t bother me”, and ran straight into his room. He turned on the computer and started a shooting game, engrossed in the killing in the game.
Some time passed, then the middle-aged woman opened the door and said, “Xiaojie, it’s time to eat.”
“I’m busy now, eat yourself!” the boy replied.
After some time, the middle-aged woman came into the room with a hot towel and warm water, and began wiping the boy’s wound using the warm water. The boy winced in pain as he accidentally shifted his mouse, and the screen turned dark. He pushed the woman’s hand away in anger and shouted, “What are you doing?!”
“I’m helping you clean the wound,” said the woman.
“I don’t need – I don’t need that! Are you so happy to annoy me?!” shouted the boy.
The boy pulled the mouse out from the computer and threw it towards the ground. He scoffed angrily as he glared at the middle-aged woman. She put down the hot towel, and left the room without a word.
Some time passed and the boy calmed down. He wiped his wound with the hot towel and a speech bubble appeared above his head: [I fought with someone and lost, but why did I vent my anger on my mother… Should I apologize to her?]
Well, it should be time for the Seeker to make her appearance, right?
Ren Suo felt that in the trial of the red hats, the Seeker likely had a similar role to that of “Grandpa in the Ring”, who gave advice to the hat owner to ensure that they proceeded on the right path in life.
Mmm, to persuade this boy to apologize, both Warmth and Courage would be required, right?
However, at that moment, a girl shrouded in a black mist who was wearing a pointed witch’s hat appeared beside the boy.
“That is none of your business. It was obviously your mother who did not respect you. Would you have lost your temper if she had not disturbed you? It was her who thought that she was helping you, forcefully giving you things which you don’t need, which made you angry.”
“That had nothing to do with you losing the fight. Think about it, did your mother consider your opinions when she asked you to drink an extra bowl of soup, urged you to shower earlier, and call you out to eat when you were busy playing the game? … This has nothing to do with you, because she did not treat you well before, which is why you reacted in this way.”
Naturally, the boy nodded in agreement and said, “Yes… she always has to control me… otherwise, I would not have…”
At that juncture, it was finally time for the Seeker to make her appearance.
A dialog box was shown on the screen, and a prompt appeared at the bottom of the dialog box: [Please input commands to the Seeker, such as “Advise”, “Reprimand”, and “Hug”. You may also enter a reply directly.]
Ren Suo blinked and entered “Advise”.
[The Seeker advises Wen Junjie, “It is for your own benefit that your mother is busy trying to take good care of you. Don’t you feel guilty that she did not even say anything after you lost your temper at her?”]
[Through words of “Advise”, the Seeker attempts to give Wen Junjie 3 Courage and 5 Warmth.]
[Wen Junjie disregards “Advise”.]
Ren Suo then entered words like “Reprimand”, “Guidance”, and “Console”, using more than a dozen Courage and Warmth but to no effect.
Instead, the girl shrouded in the black mist beside the boy let out a shrill, bell-like laughter, as if mocking the Seeker.
Ren Suo was furious. He carefully inspected the command box, and his eyes suddenly lit up as he typed in the word “Embrace”.
[The seeker hugs Wen Junjie from behind and attempts to give Wen Junjie 3 Warmth.]
[Wen Junjie disregards “Embrace”.]
Hmph, he is still angry after a young girl hugged him? Let’s wait and see if you will admit your mistake later.
Ren Suo returned to the main screen and navigated to the “Equipment” page, then went back to the game. He entered the command “Beat his ass and hit him until he admits his mistake”.
Equipped with “Fighter Novice”, the Seeker picked Wen Junjie up and skilfully restricted Wen Junjie’s movements such that he could not escape. Then, she pulled down his pants and started beating his ass.
“Do you know what you have done wrong, do you know what you have done wrong now!”
Since it was possible to give a hug, which meant that physical contact was possible, it was naturally possible to carry out physical ♂ education.
It was only after beating him for 30 seconds when Wen Junjie shouted, “I was wrong, I was wrong, I apologize!”
[The Seeker beat Wen Junjie and he gained 15 Courage and 15 Warmth.]
Violence turned out to be the most practical and realistic option in dealing with a rebellious kid.
At that moment, the girl shrouded in the black mist let out a strange laughter and dissipated into the air in the room.
“I am looking forward to your subsequent performance…”
Ren Suo selected a hat with a green glow in “Passing Hats” and waited as the Seeker collected the resources in the automated plot sequence.
He logged on to the intranet to see if there was any new information.
“Neisser Ren” had been quiet for the past ten days and Ren Suo expected the discussion about the methods of “Neisser Ren” to have died down, while other topics would become a more popular topic of discussion.
However, as soon as Ren Suo logged on to the intranet, he realized that the “Neisser Ren Special Task Force” had uploaded a trending post!
Ren Suo had completely no idea who was in the “Neisser Ren Task Force” and neither did he think that they would be able to find out anything. Ren Suo was even more convinced of that as they had no questions for the Special Advisors over the last few days.
However, the post that they uploaded shocked even Ren Suo –
“The Identity of the Female Character in A Strong Warrior Ascends 10,000 Meters Has Been Confirmed”
Eh?
Ren Suo clicked into the post and found that there were pictures of the forest, and a series of footprints were marked in red on the pictures.
[These are the footprints of the female main character (hereinafter referred to as MC) from “A Strong Warrior Ascends 10,000 Meters” which the Task Force discovered. We traced the footsteps all the way from the Hyjal Peak to an unmarked lake within the Tedemia Mountain Range 26 kilometers away.]
[Footprints of the MC ended abruptly in the lake. Strangely, the trees around the lake had begun to wither in the summer. The lake is connected to a subterranean river and is a habitat for aquatic plants and fishes.]
[Amongst the underwater plants, we discovered a skeleton.]
A skeleton?!
A picture of the skeleton was shown. Buried in the soil underwater, plants were growing out of the eyes and a large part of the sternum was deeply anchored. It looked relatively old.
[We have ascertained through investigation that this skeleton has been there for 400 years and is that of a male.]
[Through prospecting, we discovered traces of man-made excavation from the bed of the lake not far from this skeleton. We managed to make use of traceback abilities to discover that another skeleton was present in the same area until not too long ago.]
“Currently, the Task Force has made the following deduction: the MC is the other skeleton. She was reborn due to the rejuvenation of Reiki, 400 years after her death. Her strong obsession allowed her to absorb nutrients from her surroundings and eventually returned to the world. The MC is most likely an ancient Practitioner who made a pilgrimage to the Hyjal peak from continental Europe with her partner, but they lost themselves in the Tedemia Mountain Range and eventually died in the dense forests. A century later, the area where they died turned into a lake.]
That was the end of the post, and replies were disallowed. Ren Suo clicked out of the post and found that the question “Is the implementation of the Elf Protection Act the goal of ‘Neisser Ren’, and could he possibly be an elf?” was raised again.
The same question already appeared ten days ago which received numerous answers with plenty of like. With the question becoming a top discussion again, it seemed that many researchers who previously disagreed with the views in the forum had now changed their minds, after reading the post made by the Special Task Force.
The most liked reply had also been edited to include one more point:
“Neisser Ren could be the spokesperson of elves, dead elves, or ghost demons.”
In fact, even Ren Suo thought that the investigations of the Special Task Force were right this time.
He did not know what the true form of the female Seeker was either.
Excluding the possibility that the female Seeker appeared out of thin air, she must have been something that once existed on Earth.
From Ren Suo’s perspective though, the female Seeker was simply a matchstick character who jumped around. He had never thought of the origins of the female Seeker previously.
He just did not expect that the task force actually headed down to the Hyjal peak to investigate, as part of their investigation of “Neisser Ren”. They even brought a powerful Retracer who managed to find the place where the Seeker first appeared.
“So, the skeleton that disappeared is very likely that of the female Seeker. If I had chosen a male character at first, the skeleton that the Task Force discovered would have been that of the female Seeker instead…”
“Everything in the world does not appear out of nowhere. Is the Small World game console also making use of what’s already present to create its games…?”
The information about the Seeker was marked as an important reference material and not secret, which was why it was published on the intranet, although it would never appear on the internet which was open to anyone.
At that juncture, Ren Suo realized another advantage of his present identity: he could learn more about the Small World game console through the nation’s investigations of “Neisser Ren”.
For example, it would not have been possible for Ren Suo to investigate the origins of the female Seeker by himself. Only the Task Force which had the manpower and resource support from the nation had the capabilities to investigate so thoroughly.
In summary, the Ren family had the blood of the Huo family, Zhao Zili was actually a dead person, and the All-Devouring Soul was merely a pangolin in the beginning…
Ren Suo looked down at his mobile phone and said to himself, “Then… is this also something that is already present in reality?”
In the lit, circular house, over a dozen floating ghosts surrounded the round table. The Seeker was sitting opposite the girl shrouded in a black mist which seemed to say “either you die, or I will not be able to return to my family”.
The Seeker put down the hat with a green glow. She now had 35 Courage and 30 Warmth, and was ready to continue another trial of the hat.
But there were no more suitable hats.
In the Seeker’s vision, all of the unconverted hats had been worn once by the girl shrouded in the black mist. Those hat glowed strangely in red, greatly contrasting the green glow of the converted hats.
From the beginning, Ren Suo started the challenge from the ordinary hats. Even though he had not attempted the trials of any of the red hats, he already knew that they likely meant a more challenging trial, so he naturally converted the less challenging ordinary hats first.
That was because when the Seeker chose a hat, the girl shrouded in the black mist who sat directly opposite the Seeker would also don the hat that was in front of her. When the Seeker replaced a hat, the girl would also put down the hat which was now glowing in red.
However, when the girl donned a transformed hat, nothing will happen and the green glow of the hat would remain.
Although Ren Suo purposely avoided those hats, there were already half a dozen of them glowing in red when the Seeker first arrived. By the time the Seeker converted six hats, only the glowing red hats remained.
Nonetheless, Ren Suo realized that a new hat would appear each day, and a new ghost would also appear at the round table. That new hat naturally became the first hat that Ren Suo would pick every day.
Ren Suo returned to the living room and decided to continue playing with the large television screen.
After all, it was the first time he was going to challenge a red hat, and he wanted to be able to see more details.
The moment the Seeker donned the red hat, Ren Suo immediately knew that it was the biggest challenge he would face in completing “Passing Hats”.
[The Seeker donned Wen Junjie’s hat.]
Unexpectedly, in the trial of the red hat, the Seeker was no longer the owner of the hat but was instead a bystander.
Furthermore, the childhood and past memories of the hat owner were all skipped, proceeding directly to the decision-making phase.
Ren Suo was not glad, for he realized that if all the hats on the table were glowing in red, he would not have had any opportunity to collect Courage and Warmth resources!
Surely, he had made the right choice to conquer the hats without the red glow first.
On the screen, a junior high school boy who was carrying a schoolbag had just returned home. His attire was sloppy, his clothes were stained with mud, and there were fresh cuts on his face. The moment he stepped into the house, a middle-aged woman hurried over and asked, “What did you do? Did you get into a fight? Your clothes are all dirty, quickly take them off.”
The boy yelled in response, “I’m fine, don’t bother me”, and ran straight into his room. He turned on the computer and started a shooting game, engrossed in the killing in the game.
Some time passed, then the middle-aged woman opened the door and said, “Xiaojie, it’s time to eat.”
“I’m busy now, eat yourself!” the boy replied.
After some time, the middle-aged woman came into the room with a hot towel and warm water, and began wiping the boy’s wound using the warm water. The boy winced in pain as he accidentally shifted his mouse, and the screen turned dark. He pushed the woman’s hand away in anger and shouted, “What are you doing?!”
“I’m helping you clean the wound,” said the woman.
“I don’t need – I don’t need that! Are you so happy to annoy me?!” shouted the boy.
The boy pulled the mouse out from the computer and threw it towards the ground. He scoffed angrily as he glared at the middle-aged woman. She put down the hot towel, and left the room without a word.
Some time passed and the boy calmed down. He wiped his wound with the hot towel and a speech bubble appeared above his head: [I fought with someone and lost, but why did I vent my anger on my mother… Should I apologize to her?]
Well, it should be time for the Seeker to make her appearance, right?
Ren Suo felt that in the trial of the red hats, the Seeker likely had a similar role to that of “Grandpa in the Ring”, who gave advice to the hat owner to ensure that they proceeded on the right path in life.
Mmm, to persuade this boy to apologize, both Warmth and Courage would be required, right?
However, at that moment, a girl shrouded in a black mist who was wearing a pointed witch’s hat appeared beside the boy.
“That is none of your business. It was obviously your mother who did not respect you. Would you have lost your temper if she had not disturbed you? It was her who thought that she was helping you, forcefully giving you things which you don’t need, which made you angry.”
“That had nothing to do with you losing the fight. Think about it, did your mother consider your opinions when she asked you to drink an extra bowl of soup, urged you to shower earlier, and call you out to eat when you were busy playing the game? … This has nothing to do with you, because she did not treat you well before, which is why you reacted in this way.”
Naturally, the boy nodded in agreement and said, “Yes… she always has to control me… otherwise, I would not have…”
At that juncture, it was finally time for the Seeker to make her appearance.
A dialog box was shown on the screen, and a prompt appeared at the bottom of the dialog box: [Please input commands to the Seeker, such as “Advise”, “Reprimand”, and “Hug”. You may also enter a reply directly.]
Ren Suo blinked and entered “Advise”.
[The Seeker advises Wen Junjie, “It is for your own benefit that your mother is busy trying to take good care of you. Don’t you feel guilty that she did not even say anything after you lost your temper at her?”]
[Through words of “Advise”, the Seeker attempts to give Wen Junjie 3 Courage and 5 Warmth.]
[Wen Junjie disregards “Advise”.]
Ren Suo then entered words like “Reprimand”, “Guidance”, and “Console”, using more than a dozen Courage and Warmth but to no effect.
Instead, the girl shrouded in the black mist beside the boy let out a shrill, bell-like laughter, as if mocking the Seeker.
Ren Suo was furious. He carefully inspected the command box, and his eyes suddenly lit up as he typed in the word “Embrace”.
[The seeker hugs Wen Junjie from behind and attempts to give Wen Junjie 3 Warmth.]
[Wen Junjie disregards “Embrace”.]
Hmph, he is still angry after a young girl hugged him? Let’s wait and see if you will admit your mistake later.
Ren Suo returned to the main screen and navigated to the “Equipment” page, then went back to the game. He entered the command “Beat his ass and hit him until he admits his mistake”.
Equipped with “Fighter Novice”, the Seeker picked Wen Junjie up and skilfully restricted Wen Junjie’s movements such that he could not escape. Then, she pulled down his pants and started beating his ass.
“Do you know what you have done wrong, do you know what you have done wrong now!”
Since it was possible to give a hug, which meant that physical contact was possible, it was naturally possible to carry out physical ♂ education.
It was only after beating him for 30 seconds when Wen Junjie shouted, “I was wrong, I was wrong, I apologize!”
[The Seeker beat Wen Junjie and he gained 15 Courage and 15 Warmth.]
Violence turned out to be the most practical and realistic option in dealing with a rebellious kid.
At that moment, the girl shrouded in the black mist let out a strange laughter and dissipated into the air in the room.
“I am looking forward to your subsequent performance…”
