Chapter 26: Returning to the Dungeon

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Seated on the bed, Cao Yu found himself unable to endure Yang Chan’s relentless gaze any longer and finally spoke up to remind her, “Little sister, I’m going to sleep now.”

Yang Chan remained silent, her eyes fixed on him.

Cao Yu tried again, “Silent treatment is still a form of violence.”

At that, Yang Chan finally spoke, “Sixth brother, you bullied me just now.”

“Big brother is very proud; I was only giving him a way out,” Cao Yu said. “Besides, I’m not the only one who talks about you…”

“They’re dirty adults, colluding with each other,” Yang Chan retorted. “We’re about the same age, companions—it’s different.”

The little sister was well-mannered and had her own way of handling things.

Cao Yu chose not to argue and quickly changed the subject. “You’re on the superhuman path; what’s your superpower? What’s your rank?”

He was both surprised and unsurprised that she had awakened her ability—after all, superpowers depended entirely on talent, and anyone could fall into it.

For instance, big brother, second brother, and third sister Su Yuhuan had all failed to awaken powers, which made sense.

If they were all superhuman players with outstanding abilities, Cao Yu would truly begin to wonder if the three siblings of the Yang family weren’t… something else.

“My superpower is very powerful, within the top 150 ranks, but since you bullied me just now, I don’t want to tell you exactly which one it is,” Yang Chan said, her eyes still showing a hint of grievance.

“Within the top 150… that’s not weak at all. You’re quite lucky. But running off to kill someone tonight—that was definitely wrong,” Cao Yu took the initiative, somewhat hypocritically scolding her, “Too reckless!”

“I didn’t mean to kill anyone, just wanted to teach that guy a lesson,” Yang Chan explained. “Big brother worries a lot about me. I don’t want him to be too stressed or tired. And my superpower is really strong—defense, healing, and attack all in one. Sixth brother, you don’t need to worry about my safety. Also…”

She repeated her previous accusation, “Sixth brother, you bullied me.”

“…” Seeing that she was stubborn, Cao Yu softened his tone. “I apologize. I was unfair to you earlier, little sister.”

As Cao Yu finally relented, the grievance in Yang Chan’s eyes vanished, and a faint smile appeared at the corner of her lips.

She didn’t leave the room immediately but began scheming quietly in her heart about where Cao Yu should take her this summer vacation, how many days they should play to make up for the psychological wounds she had suffered.

Among the seven siblings, except for Cao Yu, everyone was at least five years older. Big brother was busy running a company, second brother practiced boxing, and the others were all wrapped up in their own lives, so no one really played with her… she was quite lonely.

Only Cao Yu was close to her age and willing to play with her, making her childhood warm and sweet.

But when Cao Yu turned ten, he stopped being playful and started maturing early, getting busier with his own affairs, spending less and less time with her.

After entering university, Cao Yu didn’t come home for an entire semester, as if he had completely forgotten about her… Now that she finally had a chance to catch him, she wasn’t about to let it slip away.

On the other hand, Cao Yu seemed to see through Yang Chan’s thoughts. Before she could speak, he adopted a serious tone and struck directly at her weak spot:

“Little sister, you should go back. When you were little, we could share a bed. Now you’re so tall you can’t even see your toes when you look down. And it’s already past midnight. Staying in my room might cause misunderstandings, so be careful. Don’t forget, we’re not biological siblings!”

“What? Can’t see my toes when looking down…” Yang Chan was momentarily stunned. She instinctively looked down and indeed couldn’t see her toes—what she saw instead was… She immediately understood Cao Yu’s meaning, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment, even the area behind her ears turning rosy.

Without making any requests to Cao Yu, she followed her instincts, hugged the big orange cat, and fled the room.

Cao Yu casually closed the door behind her.

He had no time to indulge Yang Chan’s playful whims.

The Federation Special Affairs Bureau’s employment appointment letter would arrive soon.

As the "top graduate of the Fourth Institute’s replica exam," he would receive a 3,000 evolution points reward upon entry.

However, the prerequisite for claiming the reward was that the bureau would subject him to a lie detector test to verify his previous grades.

Cao Yu wasn’t afraid of being exposed—his grades were undeniably real.

What worried him was that during the test, the interrogator might get carried away and ask intrusive questions that could reveal his secrets… What if that happened?

A lack of foresight invites immediate worries.

So before officially joining, he planned to dive back into replicas and grind out achievements, unlocking the purchase of the "Imperial Immortal Secret Record" and upgrading his cultivation aptitude to Level 7.

Then he would formally embark on the evolution path that prioritized the immortal route, with superhuman abilities as a supplement, training his immortal path to increase his spiritual strength.

Lie detection devices generally rely on mental interference, like truth serums.

There are tools that directly judge truth from falsehood conceptually, but they’re all high-level and certainly wouldn’t be used by the Federation Special Affairs Bureau for something trivial.

Therefore… as long as his spiritual strength rose, he might even be immune to lie detection.

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Cao Yu anticipated being very busy in the coming days, with no time to play house with Yang Chan.

All he wanted now was to make money!

“Forgive me, little sister, this is the last time…”

…

At six in the morning, Cao Yu woke up naturally due to his biological clock, took a cold shower as usual to activate his body and mind.

Though he had only slept about five hours, his spirits were surprisingly good.

As his evolution level increased, players gradually transcended ordinary human limitations. Powerful immortal players could even forgo sleep entirely, relying on meditation and cultivation to keep going nonstop.

At this moment, a furry sensation brushed against his calf.

Looking down, Cao Yu saw the clingiest Maine Coon cat in the house approaching him. This reminded him of the last replica where players sought protection from cats to avoid the “Tio Yuan” danger… Smiling, he stroked the cat a few times.

The cat purred contentedly.

Cao Yu then returned to the bedroom to change into clean clothes.

Upon opening the door, Yang Chan was blocking the entrance.

“…Little sister, it’s really hard on you to come find me so early,” Cao Yu said helplessly. “I’ll be busy these next few days and really won’t have time to hang out. Besides, you’re already in high school; don’t you have any friends or sisters?”

“You don’t understand girls. Four people in a dorm can create five chat groups, organizing friends and relatives on ‘WeChat’ into different circles, with each friend circle’s visibility carefully managed,” Yang Chan explained as she shook her head gently.

“They’re always jealous of me in various ways but keep it bottled up inside, making things complicated. And boys… most confess to me after only a few days of interaction.”

“So, you don’t have friends?” Cao Yu asked.

“I do, but the relationships are shallow,” Yang Chan replied. “Enough about that. Sixth brother, I made breakfast.”

The two went to the dining room.

Yang Chan’s culinary skills ranked second in the family, after the virtuous second sister-in-law.

The breakfast was rich and delicious, and Cao Yu ate happily.

Taking the opportunity, Yang Chan said, “After thinking last night… Sixth brother, you’ll be busy diving into replicas these days, right?”

“That’s right. How did you know?” Cao Yu asked with curiosity.

“Because I did the same when I first became a player,” she answered.

… Well then, the little sister was now a senior player.

Cao Yu felt a bit awkward. Was this a role reversal?

“Sixth brother, which replica invitation letters do you have?” Yang Chan asked.

“Do you want to dive into replicas with me?” Cao Yu countered.

A newbie’s first replica is assigned by the Evolution Game’s forced matching.

Subsequent replicas require “replica invitation letters.”

After clearing the last replica, Cao Yu had three “E-level replica invitations” as rewards.

If Yang Chan held the same invitation letters, they could enter the same replica together.

“Mm,” Yang Chan nodded slightly, then asked again, “Which invitations do you have?”

“…” Cao Yu admitted this was a question he was reluctant to answer.

His usual persona was positive, kind, and good-natured… Actually, that was not just a persona; he really was a good person!

Just sometimes, his goodness wasn’t very obvious.

Yang Chan was genuinely kind-hearted. If she joined him in replicas, he would be cautious because of his persona… No, because he cared about her feelings, he might act restrained.

But in this situation, he couldn’t refuse.

He took out the three replica invitations from his player storage and placed them on the dining table. “Take a look yourself.”

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Yang Chan picked them up to examine, murmuring:

“‘Common Grave,’ ‘Fairy Tale Town,’ and an ‘Event-type Replica Invitation’…”

Event-type replica invitations were rare. Using one, the Evolution Game randomly selected an event in the real world and generated a replica for players to participate in.

Such replicas had pros and cons—if participants were influential figures in reality, others might hesitate to offend them.

In short, the chances of murder and plunder were very low.

The downside… was that you couldn’t easily kill and loot anymore.

Holding the three invitations, Yang Chan said regretfully, “Sixth brother, none of your invitation letters overlap with mine.”

“Too bad,” Cao Yu said with equal regret. “I was really looking forward to you inviting me… Looks like our ‘Seven Saints of Meishan’ won’t have a chance to debut in the same replica.”

“…That title is so embarrassing, Sixth brother,” Yang Chan said with a subtle tone. “We’re not idols, so no need to talk about debuting… By the way, I’ll check second brother’s invitations; maybe he has matching ones.”

“Second brother’s still sleeping,” Cao Yu advised. “Let’s not disturb him.”

“Second brother didn’t consider my feelings at all when he bullied me last night…”

Yang Chan’s tone was slightly resentful, but she quickly made up her mind:

“Today I’m not only going to bother him, but also tease his Hound of Heaven… Oh, Sixth brother, I’ll tell you a secret—he really likes the dog you gave him, takes it out every day. That’s his weakness. If you want to hassle him later, tell him you want to take the husky to raise yourself; he’ll definitely get flustered.”

Cao Yu: “…”

You two really are biological siblings!

Seeing Yang Chan truly intended to seek out Yang Jian, Cao Yu, in a panic, struck again at her weak spot with a tone of admiration:

“Little sister, your cooking is getting better and better. You’re growing more beautiful and gentle in temperament. I can’t imagine how happy the man who marries you will be.”

“…Sixth brother, what are you talking about…” Yang Chan blushed deeply and shyly ran off.

Cao Yu quickly finished breakfast and returned to his room to call An Li.

He would be constrained if he took the little sister into replicas.

But An Li… this young lady seemed a bit of a delinquent with low moral standards, yet smart—perfect as a teammate.

“Forgive me, little sister, this is the last… uh, anyway, next time for sure.”

Cao Yu muttered.

Soon the call connected, and An Li’s slightly irritated voice came through.

“Who is it?!”

She sounded grumpy from just waking up.

It was past six; how could someone of her age still sleep so soundly?

Cao Yu asked directly, “Replica run?”

“…Cao Yu?” An Li’s voice normalized. “Wait for me a moment.”

She hung up.

About ten minutes later, An Li sent a picture showing the replica invitations she held.

Cao Yu’s eyes landed on “Common Grave,” which he also had.

They immediately agreed to enter the replica together.

Cao Yu took out his invitation letters and examined the details.

[Replica countdown: 00:00:17:24]

[Please tear open the invitation within one hour before or after the replica starts, silently recite “Common Grave” three times in your heart, and enter the replica.]