Entertaining And Unpredictable (Arc 4)

The two boys sat in one corner of the room and looked through the menu. Feng Yongrui discussed the meal with Rufus and the two agreed to buy two bowls of chicken soup. Feng Yongrui paid for the meal and the two boys waited for the soup while chatting together.

When two bowls of steaming hot chicken soup arrived, Feng Yongrui's eyes lit up and he licked his lips happily. That smell... This soup was definitely delicious!

Feng Yongrui and Rufus ate the soup while chatting heartily. When the meal ended, the two boys left the restaurant. The owner of the restaurant was a kind old man, and so after asking for directions, Rufus said that he knew the way back to his home already.

As for Feng Yongrui, he wasn't actually "lost", so he only pretended to listen to the old man's words. Rufus and "Harold" walked out of the restaurant together, but when they reached an intersection, the two decided to part ways.

"If... if we want to meet again, how can I find you?" Rufus asked.

Feng Yongrui was quite happy when Rufus asked him that question. Did this mean he had successfully become "friends" with the Crown Prince? Although they weren't close buddies yet, this was a significant step right?

"Uhm... If we want to meet again, why don't we meet in that restaurant at night?" Feng Yongrui suggested.

"I can't go out when it's still morning," he explained.

Rufus nodded his head and agreed. Since he was actually a crown prince, he also couldn't leave the house in the morning. If they really wanted to meet up, then it was better to do so in the evening.

Feng Yongrui said goodbye to Rufus and hurriedly returned to the guild's headquarters. He had been playing around for about three hours, and it was well past his bedtime now.

If he didn't get enough sleep, tomorrow the system was bound to wake him up not-so-nicely. And if he didn't rest long enough, he wouldn't have enough strength for his classes!

Feng Yongrui washed himself up very quickly and went to bed. Thankfully, the next morning he was able to wake up early and attend class normally. Ahem, he did have some dark circles under his eyes, but it wasn't that obvious.

***

Several days passed normally after Feng Yongrui's encounter with Rufus, and his days passed normally. He would have his classes every day, and during every eating time, he would sit with his friends (Jasper, Jeronimo, and Fanny).

Today, though, was different from usual. When Feng Yongrui woke up and walked downstairs, he came face to face with Milton. After greeting him, Milton went straight to business.

"Today you won't have your lessons," Milton told him.

Feng Yongrui was baffled. He wasn't having his lessons? Why?

"You'll be accompanying the Guild Leader and go with him today," Milton explained.

"Where will we go?" Feng Yongrui asked, feeling rather curious.

"Well, I don't know. It just depends on the Guild Leader's mood," Milton shrugged his shoulders.

Feng Yongrui raised an eyebrow but did not say anything. Anyway, it was thanks to Igino Wolf that he was able to enter the Enigma Guild smoothly. Even though he wasn't close with the Guild Leader, Feng Yongrui had heard several rumors about him already.

He knew that Igino had a hobby of picking children as his successors, and when he lost interest, he would just strip them of their "successor" title. Well, Feng Yongrui didn't exactly like his behavior. After all, naming a child as his successor and then "dumping" the child away was really cruel...

But then again, he was a Guild Leader and a powerful person. He was bound to have some quirks, right? Even if he changed his successors as often as he changed clothes, since he was the Guild Leader, Feng Yongrui couldn't oppose him.

After having breakfast, Feng Yongrui was called to Igino's office. When he entered the brightly lit room, Feng Yongrui saw Igino sipping a cup of coffee.

"You're here," Igino said.

"Yes. Good morning, sir. I mean, the infamous notorious incomprehensible gallant oppressor," Feng Yongrui said everything in one breath and stared at Igino.

Same as before, he wasn't able to see anything on Igino's face, be it happiness or anger or even a tinge of awkwardness.

There was a moment of silence in the room, and Feng Yongrui continued to stare at the Guild Leader, waiting for him to say something. However, the latter still didn't say or do anything.

Feng Yongrui was puzzled. Was this guy waiting for him to speak first?

"Erm..." Feng Yongrui began.

"We'll be going to the east side of the city today," Igino spoke.

"Oh, okay. Uhh... what will we do there?" Feng Yongrui asked.

"...What do you think we will do?" Igino asked back.

Feng Yongrui was speechless. How was he supposed to know? Well... maybe Igino wanted to train him or something?

Before Feng Yongrui could open his mouth and answer, a blue screen appeared in front of him and he hurriedly read the contents.

[The Guild Leader of the Enigma Guild is testing you. As his successor, you must be interesting and entertaining enough. If not, he will strip you of your "successor" title, which means you won't get top-notch training and resources like before.

Therefore, to ensure the smooth completion of the main task, a side quest has been issued. Host, please spend the entire day with the Guild Leader and entertain him as best as you can. The more interested and funny he thinks you are, the better it will be.

Hint: Make sure to be ridiculous, funny, entertaining, unconventional or as unpredictable as you can. Also, don't make him angry, or else you can say goodbye to your head.

Good luck, Host.]

On the top right corner of the blue screen, there was a gauge that showed how entertained or how satisfied Igino was with Feng Yongrui's performance. The gauge showed the number 20/100.

If the score fell to zero, than Igino would probably be tired and bored of Feng Yongrui and strip him of his "successor" title.

When he was done reading the information, Feng Yongrui quickly looked at Igino, who was still waiting for an answer. Seeing that Feng Yongrui wasn't answering him, Igino repeated his question with a tinge of annoyance.

"What do you think we will do?" As he asked the question, the gauge in the corner was reduced by one point.

Feng Yongrui: "..."

So, if he responded too slowly, Igino would get annoyed and it would affect the gauge?!

"I think we'll play together?" Feng Yongrui blurted out quickly. "You know, we'll play fetch... and maybe have some, uhh... father and son bonding time?"

Feng Yongrui knew that he was speaking nonsense, so he tried to fix the situation and stuttered out a few more words.

"Well, you know, since you said I'm your successor... Don't you think I'm like your child or something? So, you're going to spend time with me and uhh... maybe we'll eat some ice cream... something like that?" Feng Yongrui almost bit his own tongue in frustration.

Alright, the system did tell him to be as ridiculous and unpredictable as he could, but that didn't mean he could sputter out nonsense like that, right? Feng Yongrui wanted to turn back time and take back his words.

Feng Yongrui looked at Igino's face tentatively and noticed that the latter was raising an eyebrow at him.

Erm...

"Ding~" Feng Yongrui heard the familiar sound and instinctively looked at the gauge on the right side.

[25/100]

Oh, Igino's interest in him was raised. Feng Yongrui looked at the Guild Leader's face again and realization dawned on him.

It didn't matter if his words were too stupid or too weird. As long as he did something out of the box, Igino would feel that he was entertaining enough.

Feng Yongrui did a rough analysis of the situation and concluded that making Igino happy and satisfied was a good thing. Anyway, as long as he remained the successor of the Enigma Guild, then he would be able to train like usual. He would be given enough resources and training to become better and stronger.

Not only that, if he was the "successor" and not just a normal member of the guild, then he would be able to access more information and use it to his advantage. If he really did end up as a guild leader, he would be able to mobilize the guild's resources and connections to help him with his main mission.

Even if, in the end, being the "successor" didn't help Feng Yongrui complete the main task, he could always run away from the Enigma Guild, right?

After all, he still had two vital skills, the Shapeshifting Skill and the Invisibility Skill. With those two skills, even if he wanted to quit being an assassin and leave the guild, it would be a piece of cake.

All in all, his conclusion was this.

Getting closer to Igino and earning his favor was a good thing and could be seen as an investment in the long run.

***

Note: Feng Yongrui "entertaining" Igino does not mean "entertain" in any romantic or sexual meaning. Igino simply sees the "successors" as interesting kids, interesting specimens that he wants to play with. He wants to see their real, raw, reactions to things that are happening in life, because in this way he is entertained. But, this doesn't mean Igino has any perverted (sexual/romantic) interest in the kids.