Chapter 60 For the Mission! For the Reward!

Chapter 60 For the Mission! For the Rewards!

As the Master Ball for Ghostly Spirits ceased its trembling, it signaled the thorough eradication of this campus urban legend.

Duan Ming picked up the Master Ball, but no system prompt popped up indicating the completion or triggering of a hidden quest.

As expected, it seemed there were deeper reasons hidden behind all of this.

However, being able to acquire another functional dual-wielded enforcer meant the ending wasn't too shabby.

He smiled with satisfaction, forcefully suppressing the urge to spin around and strike a pose, and then turned to face the others.

"All done."

The fitness ghost, Chen Hui, walked over. "Hey, you really something else. As expected of my Chen Hui's grandpa."

"Alright, since things are resolved, I'll head back first. I haven't had my protein shake tonight yet. Call me if anything comes up. Anyway, the money you gave me is enough for you to summon me another one or two times. Oh, and don't summon me for random things; I need to pump iron."

"Got it," He Nian nodded calmly.

Duan Ming, however, could not remain calm and pulled He Nian over. "What are you doing? With such a powerhouse leading the way, wouldn't the difficulty of this instance be drastically reduced?"

He Nian squeezed a grimace and whispered, "I want that too, but didn't I mention earlier that we couldn't agree on the contract terms for the ghost spirit? Chen Hui is obsessed with fitness and has to move around every day. That's his reason for hesitating, and I can't force him."

"..."

"Fine then," Duan Ming said helplessly.

"Huh? Didn't you say you were leaving?"

He noticed the fitness ghost didn't seem to be making any moves to leave.

"Yeah, I'll just teleport back."

╭(°a°`)╮

"Wait, wait, wait, the person who was cried over can be teleported back?"

"What, you didn't know?"

"I had no idea. How do you do it?"

"That's easy."

He Nian nodded at Chen Hui, who caught on, walked over to an empty space nearby, and smiled and waved at Duan Ming.

"We'll meet again next time. Goodbye, Grandpa."

With that, he dropped to his knees on the ground and burst into tears.

Duan Ming: "???"

The next second, however, his confusion turned into astonishment.

He watched as Chen Hui's wailing, massive figure gradually grew ethereal and vanished completely just moments later.

He Nian stepped forward. "See? I summoned him here by crying over a grave. If he wants to go back, he just has to cry once himself."

"It's that simple?"

Duan Ming slowly shifted his gaze to the bruised and battered He Wei, who immediately shook his head violently.

"No way, I'm not crying. Are you kidding me? I still have my pride!"

He swept his gaze around, lingering on Jiang Xiaoxiao for a few extra seconds.

"Oh."

Duan Ming didn't want to force anyone, so he let the matter drop. Since Jiang Xiaoxiao was able to attend school here, it meant the Official Wealth Residential Area couldn't be too far away. At worst, he could just walk back himself.

At that moment, He Nian, who had been watching the show, suddenly held half a stack of paper currency in his hand and weighed it.

"Huh? Back home already?"

Duan Ming: "What is this? Sudden windfall?"

"Dream on. It's just the rebate consumed from crying over the grave earlier. Summoning someone costs one hundred million; when they go back by themselves, you get half back."

Duan Ming: "!!!"

"Cry for me!"

...

It was close to ten o'clock at night by the time the laboratory test results were finalized, and the group of humans and ghosts finally departed the laboratory building.

Duan Ming and He Nian wore relaxed expressions, while the rest were still practically in a daze.

Jiang Xiaoxiao wore a dazed expression as she bid the two farewell and wandered off in a trance. As for the Chou and Yu duo...

Too funny, absolutely nobody cared about them.

Duan Ming's mini-alliance walked ahead on their own, leaving Chou Yu and Ji Xian trailing behind.

At this moment, both men had bloodshot eyes, blinking fiercely from time to time to squeeze out a tear or two.

Ji Xian said with lingering fear, "Are they really just human shields? Every single one of them is a powerhouse. Boss Chou, we've got to hold onto this thick thigh tightly this time."

"It's probably not that simple," Chou Yu said with a solemn expression, shaking his head and casting a deep glance forward.

"Our performance earlier was way too obvious, and those folks aren't fools. As long as anyone pays the slightest bit of attention, they'll figure out we were planning to run away."

"I originally thought that with our strength, being a grade higher than them, we might be able to play some role in taking on missions. But now we're even more useless—they literally have connections at the top, able to abuse private privileges and max out credit rewards."

"What I'm most afraid of now is that they won't need us anymore and will just kick us aside."

Ji Xian: "Then... what do we do? Think of something, Boss Chou! If we can get on their wagon, let alone safely surviving this B-rank mission, we might even end up getting a pretty high rating in the end."

"You think I don't want to?!"

Chou Yu's tone turned slightly harsher.

Followed by a period of silence.

After a long while...

"Perhaps we can take an unconventional path."

"I noticed that Duan Ming seems to especially like taking advantage of people through titles and addresses. Let's swallow our pride. For the mission, for the rewards."

"Right! For the mission, for the rewards!"

The two exchanged a solemn look and nodded, then trotted along to catch up.

Chou Yu: "Daddy! Wait, please wait!"

Ji Xian: "Hubby~"

Chou Yu: "???"

Duan Ming: "?????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????"

...

The school dormitory wasn't far, only about a dozen minutes' walk from the laboratory building.

In their line of sight, a four-story square building with extinguished lights began to emerge.

Duan Ming stopped in his tracks.

He said coldly toward his left side, "Have you hugged enough?"

The current Chou Yu was practically a completely different person from his previously confident self. Right now, he was tightly clutching Duan Ming's left arm and refusing to let go. Fortunately, Duan Ming had been on guard and had long since tucked his other hand deep into his pants. Seeing nowhere to grab hold, the other guy, Ji Xian, simply hung himself entirely on He Nian's back.

He Nian: "(ー_ー)"

Then came a shoulder throw.

"You guys have had enough!!!"

The thick-skinned Ji Xian was completely unharmed. Instead, he raised his bloodshot eyes with a grievance-filled look, still glistening with tears.

"Ah!!!!!!!! I can't take it anymore! I want to slash him right now! Duan Ming, why are all these shameless characters popping up around you? Can't there be a few more upright and righteous people like me!"

Duan Ming: "???"

"Forget it, forget it." He put away his little notebook of grudges. Chou Yu had panicked and let go the moment he saw the long string of records in that notebook earlier.

"Aren't you guys just trying to tag along for the missions? Fine, follow along then. But I'll make it clear beforehand: don't cower when it's your turn to act, and the moment I suspect you harbor any ill intentions, don't blame me for what happens."

"Fine, fine, fine, fine, fine. Thank you, Dad."

"Thank you, hubby~"

At that moment, a shrill roar rang out from the direction of the dormitory.

"Who's over there making a ruckus and claiming family ties? Do you know what place this is? It's the student dormitory! The kids have already turned off the lights and gone to sleep. What are you going to do if your yelling disturbs their rest? They still have classes tomorrow!"

The voice came closer, and the owner of the voice gradually came into view.

It was a middle-aged dorm mother ghost. Her loose nightgown couldn't conceal her plump body, her short hair was secured with a full head of hair rollers, and she was puffing on a cigarette, her hands on her hips as she ranted all the way over.

"Visiting hours were over long ago. How did you parents get in here? Huh? Who's the parent?"

Ghost spirits only maintained the appearance they had at the time of death, so superficial age held little persuasive power in the Ghost Realm; examples of grandfathers being younger than their grandsons were not unheard of.

He Nian silently stepped forward, while Chou Yu and Ji Xian simultaneously looked at Duan Ming.

At that moment, the dorm mother ghost frowned slightly. "Huh? All living humans? Are these students who just arrived today?"

Then she narrowed her eyes and began sizing Duan Ming up with a strange look.

"You kid really know how to play, huh?"

"Whatever, I don't care how complicated your relationship is. Returning late—five credit deduction for each of you!"

!!!

He Nian hurriedly stepped forward. "Auntie... I mean, Sister, there's a reason for this. We just went to carry out a Student Union mission."

"Huh? If the Student Union has missions this late, they always notify us dorm managers in advance. I didn't receive any notification tonight."

"Maybe the Student Union forgot."

"Forgot? Couldn't you guys have come over to say hello yourselves first?"

"But we didn't know either."

"Well, I don't care. Late is late, you're definitely getting those credits deducted."

While He Nian was still haggling with the dorm mother ghost, Duan Ming pinched the bridge of his nose, then pulled out the romantic curling iron and handed it to Ji Xian.

"Your time to shine has come."

Ji Xian's eyes lit up. "Huh? Do you see her hair rollers and want to bribe her with this thing?"

"No, I want you to whack her with it."

(End of Chapter)