Volume One: Entering the City Chapter Twenty-Five: The Protagonist Reappears

"Bzzz." The phone on the bedside table vibrated before playing a ringtone that Lu Yi knew all too well. Rubbing his eyes, he glanced at the screen—Li Xinran was calling. "Hello?" Lu Yi answered as he got up.

Li Xinran wasted no time on pleasantries. Her words tumbled out in haste: "Lu Yi, hurry back. Xie Ruidai has shown up—he wants to meet everyone at our place."

"What? Xie Ruidai's coming, and he's invited the other trial participants too? What time? Alright, I'm heading back right now." Lu Yi hung up, stealing a glance at the clock—it was already half past ten.

Shaking his groggy head, he muttered, "If only I hadn't drunk so much last night." The previous evening, Ke Yuniao and Tu Xiaoxi had suggested a round of drinks to calm his nerves. A crowd had gathered, and Lu Yi had taken the opportunity to ask them if they knew any genuinely skilled demon hunters.

"Good grief, what happened here?" Lu Yi stared at his reflection in the mirror, spotting several lipstick marks on his cheeks. He then glanced back at the bed, the sheets in utter disarray.

Frustrated, Lu Yi knocked his head a few times. "Alcohol brings nothing but trouble." He hastily tidied himself up and rushed out of the hotel.

By the time he arrived, nearly ten people had already gathered in his house.

Pushing the door open, Lu Yi nodded to Li Xinran and Lu Ningyu. "I'm back."

He swept his gaze around the living room—Li Xinran's close-knit group of six was there, as were Fang Hao and Xu Yuanbin. Xie Ruidai was already seated on the sofa.

No sooner had Lu Yi finished sizing up the group than a notification chimed in his mind, and the details of a related scenario flooded in. Another forced script, he realized with dismay.

"Strange, how come the senior trial participants are missing again?" Lu Yi muttered under his breath.

Just then, a knock sounded at the door. In walked a young man in a suit—no one recognized him.

The suited young man glanced around, finally settling his gaze on Xie Ruidai seated on the sofa. He nodded and smiled politely. "Good day, everyone. I'm the secretary for Dong Xingteng. My boss is about to leave for a business engagement in another city, so he sent me in his stead."

As he spoke, the secretary produced a device and set it on the table. The screen soon lit up to reveal Dong Xingteng's image.

The device slowly rotated, transmitting the faces of everyone present to Dong Xingteng via the camera mounted on top.

"My apologies for being tied up with business," Dong Xingteng said, snuffing out his cigarette and reclining in his chair. Despite his words, there wasn't the faintest trace of remorse on his face.

The device spun again, finally stopping with the camera fixed on Xie Ruidai. "And here we have Mr. Xie Ruidai. If it weren't for his timely warning, I might not be here today. I regret that I can't thank you in person, so I've prepared a small token of gratitude."

As Dong Xingteng finished, the secretary immediately pulled an envelope from his briefcase and handed it to Xie Ruidai.

"How cliché," Xu Yuanbin scoffed under his breath.

Xie Ruidai opened the envelope. Inside were a sheet of paper, several plane tickets, and a claim slip. His eyes brightened as he examined them, his hands trembling with excitement. "This is—this is—"

"Exactly," Dong Xingteng replied, beaming. "I know you're interested in joining my company. After some consideration, I'm pleased to offer you this opportunity. I hope you’ll impress us during your probation."

Xu Yuanbin sneered. If you want to sign the protagonist, just be straightforward about it. Why take such a roundabout path? I'll offer a better deal soon enough, and you'll be left in the dust.

But to his surprise, Xie Ruidai’s reaction was nothing like what Xu Yuanbin expected. Xie Ruidai looked at Dong Xingteng with genuine excitement. "Business is business, personal is personal. This is exactly the kind of entrepreneur I admire."

Everyone turned to look at him, and Xu Yuanbin snorted. "Looks like Mr. Dong did his homework."

Dong Xingteng seemed to have anticipated Xie Ruidai’s reaction. Ignoring Xu Yuanbin’s challenge for the moment, he smiled and continued, "I also know you have two other dreams—one is to travel with Li Xinran to the beautiful country of Newbo, and the other is to acquire a full-body superhero exosuit."

"What?" Li Xinran, hiding off to the side, felt as if she'd been caught in the crossfire.

Xie Ruidai nodded eagerly at the claim slip, his excitement so evident that Lu Yi wondered if he'd forgotten why he was here in the first place.

Only then did Dong Xingteng address Xu Yuanbin, his tone leisurely, "One should never forget a kindness."

Xu Yuanbin snorted again. In truth, he knew little about the protagonist and doubted Dong Xingteng knew much more. He figured all this was orchestrated by the city itself.

But then a thought struck him—perhaps it was precisely his ignorance of the protagonist that led the city to assign him this scenario, and perhaps Dong Xingteng's lines were crafted with the help of the forces backing his identity.

Just as when Dong Xingteng had altered the script and the scenario immediately corrected itself, now the script was continuously refined through the actions of each participant. Shaking his head, Xu Yuanbin decided to set the thought aside for now.

Suddenly, a woman's voice came through the video, "Boss, everything’s ready." Lu Yi frowned; the voice was strangely familiar.

"Good. We'll depart in twenty minutes," Dong Xingteng replied, tilting his head toward the speaker.

"Enough already. Let's get to the point. Why did Xie Ruidai call us here? I have a spa appointment soon," one of the girls interrupted impatiently.

Others chimed in, saying their schedules were tight.

"Aren't we still waiting for someone?" Lu Yi prompted, following the script.

At last, Xie Ruidai seemed to recall the reason for their gathering. "They won't be coming. Tang Qi and the others died earlier today. The high school student passed away not long ago."

"What? How could that be?" Lu Yi exclaimed, shaking his head in regret, though inwardly he was deeply shocked. According to Mad Blade, two were already dead before, and now another had been lost. The frequency of these attacks was alarming.

"Yes, who would have thought they'd survive that accident only to die days later? What happened to them?" Xiao Wen’s expression showed genuine sorrow for their classmates.

"Tang Qi had a mishap at the food court... As for the high schooler, his brakes failed while riding his bicycle, and he plunged off an arch bridge. A kite line sliced his throat," Xie Ruidai said heavily.

"Reality is always so full of surprises," Fang Hao remarked dryly.

"But what if I told you," Xie Ruidai suddenly looked at Fang Hao, "that these were not accidents?"

The trial participants perked up at once—they had been waiting for this line. Once the protagonist said these words, their characters' understanding of the events could shift accordingly, making it easier for them to avoid future dangers.