Chapter 220: Change Arrives Quietly
When Xu Xiaoyue returned to the community and reached the location mentioned on her phone, the first thing she spotted was a garden baby.
Then the garden baby waved at her.
“…”
“Little Moon, Little Moon! Come over!”
“Little Yuliya…” Xu Xiaoyue walked up and circled around it, “What are you up to this time?”
Makabaka crossed its arms, striking a pose it thought was super cool: “Hmph! I’m about to smack some people around, so I had to disguise myself a bit. A true hero leaves without a trace, hiding their achievements and fame!”
“Well, you should take that off now.”
“Hmph!”
Xu Xiaoyue tilted her head slightly to take a look.
Got it, it’s a bit taller in that getup.
Not bothering with her any longer, Xu Xiaoyue shifted her gaze to the four people sprawled out on the ground.
Three of them looked familiar, a leftovers from yesterday. The last one, however, was a complete mystery.
“This guy’s a bit strong, probably stronger than Little Moon. But in front of me, he’s nothing.”
Xu Xiaoyue fell silent.
If she ran into that guy, it could spell trouble.
As expected, the world was changing.
After a little chit-chat, Xu Xiaoya relayed everything she had heard to Xu Xiaoyue.
“Little Moon, you’re in a bit of danger; a lot of people have their eyes on you.”
That was the fate sealed for her.
Being the only person so close to such an important NPC in the game, she had already drawn a spotlight from countless people.
Back when the game was still just a normal game, it was fine, but now that it could affect reality, not being targeted would’ve been weirder.
“Yeah, I had a feeling…”
Xu Xiaoyue wasn’t foolish. Ever since the day she discovered her brother turned into a sister, she felt something was off.
But there was no way for her to hide.
In this society driven by big data, no one could completely conceal themselves.
Even if game data were closely guarded, people with intentions could still connect the dots and identify individuals through various bits of information.
Unless you changed identities, like Xu Xiaoya did.
No matter how strong the Box User’s abilities were, they couldn’t target someone who originally didn’t exist.
“Why don’t you just move into the dorms, Little Moon? Don’t come back; it’s unsafe out there.”
Xu Xiaoyue rolled her eyes: “Oh sure, if I don’t come back, you’ll just turn the house upside down, right?”
“Of course not! I’m worried about you!”
Concern is real, but flipping houses is also real, so it’s two sides of the same coin.
“Let’s handle this matter first.”
Xu Xiaoyue dialed up Yaoyao Ling.
Briefly explained the situation and then waited for Uncle Hat to arrive.
“Alright, you should take that off too. Put it in your basket.”
They agreed on their story.
Xu Xiaoyue would explain the situation while Xu Xiaoya pretended to cry in the background.
The gist was that four people had captured Little Loli and threatened her, but they were subdued by the passing Masked O Guy.
Then they’d just need to mention the identities and plans of those four.
All of this was true, except for the fact that Little Loli’s real identity was actually Masked O Guy—that bit was kept under wraps.
You could say the garden baby is a bit of a Masked O Guy too!
When Uncle Hat arrived, he took everyone away.
And throughout, Xu Xiaoya nestled in Xu Xiaoyue’s arms, pretending to cry.
She’s an expert at acting innocent!
She’s just a harmless little loli who couldn’t even hurt a chicken.
After Uncle Hat heard their side of things, he went off to interrogate the others.
For the three students, a few scoldings from Uncle Hat got them spilling everything.
It matched exactly what the other side had provided!
After all, they had eavesdropped on their entire plan.
As for Daozi, he was indeed a tough nut to crack.
But it didn’t matter; it was confirmed they were tied to a criminal organization.
The case advanced exceptionally smoothly, and since some people with significant backgrounds wanted things to remain low-key and wrap up quickly, the case was closed by that afternoon.
Chen Hongyi was brought out by his Uncle Liu.
Liu, originally named Liu Lusheng, was his dad’s assistant.
“Little Yi, the boss wants to talk to you; take this call.”
Chen Hongyi dialed in nervously: “Hello? Dad?”
“Brat! What the hell are you doing? Tied up with criminals? How did you even get into that? You know that’s our biggest taboo?!”
“Dad… weren’t you the one who said to take down Xu Xiaoyue?”
“Take down? Is this how you do it?! When did I tell you to do it like this?!”
“What else was I supposed to do…”
“You! You better get back here immediately! Forget school; Uncle Liu will handle this tomorrow!”
“Dad! I’m not going back! I still—!”
“Beep beep beep…”
Uncle Liu took the phone, shaking his head and sighing: “Little Yi, just go back. Don’t stir up any more trouble. This time it really is quite a mess.”
“And… forget it, just go back.”
Chen Hongyi’s situation didn’t stir up much of a wave at school; someone managed to keep it under wraps.
The next day, when Xu Xiaoyue arrived at school, she had barely sat through one class before the teacher called her into the office.
But this time there was an extra person in the office—Liu Lusheng.
“Xu, I’m from the Chen family, basically the housekeeper…”
“Mr. Xu, if there’s nothing else, I’ll be heading back now.”
Xu Xiaoyue completely ignored him.
Dealing with her own trouble was one thing; seeking trouble for Little Yuliya was simply unacceptable.
Even if Little Yuliya wouldn’t face any real danger, it made Xu Xiaoyue furious!
Mr. Xu quickly explained: “Xu, don’t rush. They are here to sincerely apologize this time.”
“I don’t need that. Just not appearing in front of me is enough.”
“Don’t worry, those guys won’t show up again.” Liu Lusheng immediately stood up, “I heard Xu is looking for NPCs to learn sword techniques. We have a set of sword skills available for you as an apology. How about it?”
Xu Xiaoyue instinctively wanted to refuse, but her gaze landed on the skill screenshot on the tablet he offered.
It was a simple set of sword techniques, and because it was simple, she could understand it at a glance, prompting her to ponder it for a bit longer.
The skills Little Yuliya taught her were powerful, but strong meant high difficulty—learning was tough, and executing was even tougher.
In game terms, while other skills required ten effort points to learn, those Jadeite Ten Swords needed a whopping hundred.
For other skills, mastery only required a hundred points, but the Jadeite Ten Swords? One thousand points!
It had been nearly half a month since Little Yuliya started teaching her, and she’d just barely grasped some moves.
This was actually Little Yuliya’s blind spot; she only had high-end goods, not any basic stuff.
And now, starting with something simple might be better for Xu Xiaoyue.
Finally, Xu Xiaoyue nodded.
“I accept.”
Upon hearing this, Liu Lusheng let out a huge sigh of relief.
Getting her understanding was crucial.
As mentioned earlier, many people had been keeping an eye on Xu Xiaoyue.
And the state was among them.
The next instant, Mr. Xu proposed, “Xu, since this situation has arisen, we bear a significant responsibility. For your safety moving forward, we can prepare a separate room for you at school, or you can just move in here.”
Xu Xiaoyue fell silent for a moment but ultimately nodded.
Little Yuliya wasn’t really a child; though a bit mischievous, she could look after herself.
I could focus on leveling up in school and reducing her troubles.
From now on, I’d just come back to play on weekends and holidays.
(This little preparatory segment is really hard for me to write; I just want to dive straight into the action. I should’ve set the real world to have a certain combat power too. I won’t be writing such stuff before the game’s grand entry; you guys don’t love it, and I don’t enjoy it either.)
(Tomorrow we kick off the final major plot twist of this volume; a free gift for all! Meow!)
