45 Chapter 44 New Year Goods Summoning?_1

After a long absence, Huai Shi had a dream.

In the dream, he finally realized his dream. He walked into Vienna's Golden Hall with his head held high amidst the enthusiastic applause of the audience.

The host's voice was so moved that he was almost crying, while everyone else enthusiastically gazed at the greatest musician of the century.

Then Huai Shi stood on the stage, looking at them arrogantly with a slight nod, and raised his hand to signal for them to quiet down.

And then, silence fell.

All were holding their breath in anticipation, holding back tears of emotion, the female audience with expectant looks and eyes as passionate as if they wanted to have his children.

Huai Shi gave a dismissive glance, flashed a roguish smile, took out a handkerchief to wipe his hands, then tossed it aside, picked up the cello, took a deep breath...

And played a mournful "The Little Widow Visiting The Grave."

Then, before he could be beaten to death by the angry audience, he finally woke up from the dream in fright.

Lying in bed, Huai Shi was panting, unsure if it had been a nightmare or a pleasant dream, just feeling very conflicted.

He then began to self-reflect.

Why did he go to the Golden Hall and play such a broken piece!

And what was that devilish smile all about!

He sat there in a daze for a good long while before he finally snapped out of it, got up from bed, saw the sunlight outside the window, and after drinking a sip of something, he ran out to the garden to continue staring blankly.

It wasn't until he realized that continuing to daydream was not helping that he decided to take advantage of his day off, changed his clothes, and started cleaning with a bucket, mop, and rag.

Of course, although it was called a big clean-up, it was really just routine cleaning.

The Stone Marrow Pavilion was so large that even ignoring the two auxiliary buildings that had been uninhabited for a long time, just the main building's four stories would keep him busy for a month.

He just cleaned up the entrance, front yard, hall, and a few other rooms he frequently used, pulled out some wild grass, and then carried a bucket of water to the front door to wipe down the dusty sign of the Stone Marrow Pavilion once again.

By noon, the tables, chairs, and glassware he had ordered online arrived.

But the delivery guy, no matter what, refused to bring the items inside. He ran off faster than a stray dog after leaving the goods at the door, which pissed Huai Shi off enough to leave a bad review. Surprisingly, the local furniture store didn't say anything and simply refunded a delivery fee of three hundred yuan.

So, people will really do anything just to be a bit lazy these days.

After putting everything away, he replaced all the broken window panes, and the house finally looked a bit more lively.

At least it didn't look like the haunted houses from the legends anymore.

After resting for a while, Huai Shi eventually sighed, picked up the broom and mop, and went up to the fourth floor to clean up the master bedroom again, sweeping away the dust, airing out the room, and washing the sheets and quilt, then hung them out to dry.

"The room on the fourth floor isn't bad, and the bed is quite big."

The raven that was looking for entertainment perched on the cabinet, surveying this room that could be described as elegant and cozy, "Why are you always on the third floor? Look at your bed, it's about to fall apart."

"..."

After a moment of silence, Huai Shi replied, "This was my parents' bedroom."

"..." The raven didn't know what to say, "Do you still think they will come back?"

"I don't know. Probably not, I guess. Maybe they are wandering somewhere abroad right now. If they're living it up, maybe they even have new kids."

Huai Shi sat in the chair, scratching his head, and after a long struggle, he said with some helplessness, "But what if they do come back? They should at least have a place to stay, shouldn't they?"

"Have you ever considered a possibility, Huai Shi?"

The raven looked at him with pity, "Your parents might have already..."

"Hmm?"

Huai Shi looked bewildered.

"No, never mind."

The raven stared at him with a look of disappointment for a long time, but ultimately didn't say anything, and flew away flapping its wings.

Huai Shi shrugged, finished tidying up, closed the door, and went downstairs.

Then he lay on the couch playing with his phone, engrossed in mobile games, short videos, and the embrace of silly internet friends. It wasn't until the afternoon when he looked down and found... there seemed to be a bit more flesh on his chin.

"Shocking."

Huai Shi jumped up from the couch in alarm, feeling his entire body. There was definitely some extra flesh, had he actually started to get a bit chubby?

"The essence of the complete Potion is a high-calorie compound. Its purpose is to let a person absorb calories without any burden, which means... gaining weight."

To this, the raven was very calm, "You lie around doing nothing all day, isn't getting fat normal? If you ask me, you need to get out and about."

"And then get clubbed over the head?"

Huai Shi widened his eyes, "I received a bomb for just going to school. If I went out on the streets, wouldn't there be a truckload of RPGs waiting for me!"

"Sounds like you're in for trouble?" The raven cackled twice, "So, what's the plan? Are you thinking of escaping? If you want to transfer, there's always a way, right?"

"Why should I?!"

Huai Shi rolled his eyes at her, glaring, "It's my school; why should I run away!"

"So, do you have any countermeasures?"

She tilted her head, scrutinizing Huai Shi's face, seemingly curious, "Have you had any revelations, made any decisions? How about we buy a sniper rifle and shoot them from a high point at night?"

"Can we even do that?" Huai Shi's eyes bulged.

"Sure," Raven nodded, "But you don't look like someone who has a mysterious uncle who placed an order for you on his deathbed so you could start off with amazing gear."

"Stop reading those web novels! They're all fake!"

Huai Shi rolled her eyes, finally understanding what she meant. "Even the author himself doesn't want to write anymore, still has the nerve to say it's a 'phase completion', huh. Always mooching off on Weibo, writing stuff that's so artsy it hurts, not like a serious person at all!"

After ragging on the washed-up author, Huai Shi pushed herself up from the chair, took a couple of deep breaths, and finally regained some spirit, ready for the physical check-up with Raven today.

"It seems the materials from the border do stimulate your growth to a certain extent."

Raven nodded with satisfaction, "If this continues, you can at least halve the duration of your developmental phase, and if we're still adjusting your physical attributes now, later on, the compatibility with the Stigma will also increase significantly.

However, to avoid any unforeseen incidents, I have to ask once more—your family doesn't have any history of hereditary diseases, does it?"

"No," Huai Shi shook her head, "Why do you ask?"

"Good, Sublimators' developmental periods subconsciously reference the 'prototype' in the Sea of ​​Silver for adjustments. If there are recessive or hereditary diseases, the remedial process can be quite painful.

Starting from today, I will begin to adjust the formula of your Potion, which might affect your body to some extent. If you experience symptoms like high fever, dizziness, or palpitations, be sure to tell me immediately."

Raven mentioned this casually yet crucial detail and then handed over a vial of Potion—the color seemed denser today if it was originally light green, it appeared now as if shrouded by a shadow.

After a moment of hesitation, Huai Shi still drank it down.

—I've been on this pirate ship for so long, no use regretting anything now.

"Very good, Huai Shi, very good—you will have a bright future, probably."

Raven nodded with satisfaction and cheerfully flipped open the "Book of Fate": "Next, how about another intense post-meal activity?"

Huai Shi gave her a look and sighed, sprawling back onto the chair and closing her eyes, "Bring it on! Don't go easy on me just because I'm a delicate flower..."

"Heh heh."

Raven smiled mysteriously: "I like your guts. You've been performing so well, today let's have some meaty fun."

The Event Branch point clicked down.

Huai Shi's vision went black again.

"Kill them, all of them, leave no one behind."

First, she heard the instructor's voice in her headphones, and then she felt the heft of the weapon in her hands as well as the sand blown by the wind.

The open car window showed the dry land rushing by, the dust in the air mingling with the songs from the radio, pouring in nonstop.

Almost suffocating.

But inside the car, there was no sound of coughing, as silent as a tomb.

Huai Shi felt as if she was playing a VR infiltration game, like the kind popular streamers often played, only those high-priced gaming pods were unaffordable for the average person.

This was a fragment of Red Gloves' memory, selected from broken records. All of it was merely his past memories, and Huai Shi was no more than shifting herself from a bystander to the main character, like a highly realistic single-thread RPG game.

She saw a dozen people dressed in unmarked uniforms just like hers sitting on either side of the vehicle compartment, their expressions blank as machines amidst the whipping sands.

Only the instructor's commands kept coming through the headphones.

"Action in ten minutes, Teams A and B to encircle from both sides. No survivors—got it?"

Thus, the soldiers inside the vehicle responded in unison.

The car stopped at the end of the road, with the outline of a village barely discernible in the distance.

After so many simulated trainings, Huai Shi could at least keep up with their pace, distinguishing their hand signals and orders.

This group was overly strict in their assessments. If they felt she performed too poorly, even if she passed the exams, in the end, she'd be discarded as a defective product.

She had no idea where that bastard Wang Ba from Red Gloves served—

Looking around, it seemed like some desolate highland area. She could vaguely recognize the silhouettes of desert nation architecture, alongside leftovers from oil drilling fields on the road, that told Huai Shi this place was in the Southeast Region of the Ocean, the West Asia region—probably a narrow desert Domain between Rome and the Russian Federation.

Due to plentiful oil resources, conflicts had persisted on this patch of land, with dozens of Kingdoms of varied sizes waging wars under the influence of the Five Constants and seeming to have not ceased to this day.

The target for this mission must then be a Russian Federation outpost, right?

Rome and the Russian Federation have been arm-wrestling for more than a year or two. To say they are irreconcilable and have deep-seated hatred might be a bit much, but they wouldn't show any restraint when given a chance to trip each other up and cause disruption.

Looks like this mission could be treated like one of those seasonal summons and go 'bang bang bang'.

Having cleared the video so many times, why be afraid?

Huai Shi gradually relaxed, following the main force, lying in concealment, waiting for orders.

Soon, gunshots rang out from the nearby village as the forward Team A began to engage. Not long after, the instructor's command came: "Team B, offensive."

Without the need for any loud slogans, the long-hidden soldiers rose from their prone positions, groups of two or three rushed towards the village from various directions.

Huai Shi mingled in, deliberately falling behind, letting her comrades take the bullets first. But the anticipated hail of gunfire never came, even occasional retaliation shots were sporadic.

It was as if they had already been stupefied.

Suddenly, she felt even more at ease.

Mixing in with the troops, she fired randomly in front, charging haphazardly into the village. Following orders, she kicked open a broken gate and aimed her gun inside.

Then, she froze.

Where's the enemy?