Chapter 377: A Restroom Filled with Surveillance

“Mr. Duan, you’ve arrived.”

A voice, young but elegant in tone, sounded out, letting Duan Fei know immediately who was behind him.

Turning his head, he saw, just as he’d expected, Wang Er standing right behind him.

Today, Wang Er was wearing a simple apprentice Wizard Robe. His cute yet domineering “boss” aura always drew shrieks from the female players, and countless of them sought to take a photo with him.

He had finally found a moment to rest when he happened to spot Duan Fei, so he walked over to say hello.

“Ah, Wang Er. Welcome to the city. What brings you here?”

“A work-study program. I’m getting a head start on building up some relevant knowledge.”

“I see. Need me to show you around?”

“I’d love to, but unfortunately, I can’t,” Wang Er said with regret. “We’re unable to leave the shop; this place still rejects us to some extent. However, the administrator said that as long as we pass some trials, our range of activity can be expanded.”

“Is that so… Let me ask you something. What’s your take on that over there?”

Following the direction Duan Fei was pointing, Wang Er saw the Samoyed squatting faithfully by Yue Hua’s side. His own, usually elegant and composed, face twitched.

He hastily turned away, trying his best to hold back his laughter. It took him a good while to regain his composure.

“It’s not really my place to say, but I heard Teacher Merlin insisted on doing it.”

“That old man is such a pervert!”

The distant Samoyed’s ears shot up. It shot Duan Fei a vicious glare and bared its fangs.

Yue Hua, who was idly greeting customers, tugged on the Samoyed’s ear and said, “Xiao Bai, quiet.”

This time, Wang Er couldn’t hold it in either and started laughing, covering his mouth.

After he finished laughing, he whispered to Duan Fei, “Don’t expose him. Yue Hua said she wanted to see the city, and Merlin probably wasn’t comfortable with her coming alone, so he came along too. But you know what Yue Hua’s attitude toward Merlin is like. In order to come along without any fuss, he just turned himself into a dog and followed her.”

“So does he actually want to protect his granddaughter, or does he just want to be a dog?”

“PFFT… Please, Mr. Duan, I don’t want to laugh anymore. If I keep laughing, Teacher Merlin will definitely beat me to death.”

When the flow of customers slowed down, the Samoyed found an opportune moment to slip away. He then transformed back into Merlin and, with an ashen face, found Duan Fei and Wang Er.

Wang Er owned a stake in the shop, making him a minor boss here, and he even had his own private office.

Inside the office, there was no need for the whole medieval cosplay routine. It was fully modern, with a computer and an air conditioner.

When Merlin walked in, the two were watching a movie on the computer with the sound on blast, with honey rum mild enough for a child to drink and a bag of wasabi-flavored potato chips at hand.

Locking the door, Merlin raised a hand and said, “I know you have a lot of questions, but I want to say, there’s a reason for all of this.”

“Go on, keep making things up. I’m listening,” Duan Fei said, munching on a chip. “But as payment for pretending to be fooled by you, could you give me some of these chips? I want to take them back for Jinghong to try.”

Merlin looked at Duan Fei helplessly. After sitting down, he said, “Alright, I’ll confess. I’m just worried about Yue Hua.”

“Then why don’t you just be open about it?”

“I’m old, I don’t know how to talk to her anymore. There have been a few chances before, but as soon as I open my mouth, things get heated and we end up parting on bad terms.”

‘An old tsundere.’

“Don’t make fun of me. But I still hope to ease the tension between us, so I turned into a wolf to stay by Yue Hua’s side and guard her.”

“Mr. Merlin… although what you’re saying is very touching, I just want to laugh whenever I picture you as a Samoyed.”

“…Duan Someone, there are times I really want to punch you.”

Suddenly, the door was pushed open. Yue Hua appeared in the doorway, waved at Duan Fei, and said, “Mr. Duan, you’re here! Oh man, I’m exhausted.”

“But you didn’t do anything,” Duan Fei said with a frown.

“Who says? I spent a long time just spacing out. Oh, Xiao Bai is here too.”

Walking over to the sofa, Yue Hua picked up the Samoyed, rubbed its ears, and said, “This dog and I were fated to meet. I was thinking, you have a pet, Yan Yuan, so I should get a pet too. Then, just a few days later, I found him. Isn’t that a huge coincidence?”

“Yeah, what a coincidence,” Duan Fei said, holding back a laugh.

“He’s super smart. He can bathe himself, help tuck me in, and he even helps make breakfast in the morning. Isn’t he amazing?”

Covering his mouth, Duan Fei fought the urge to burst out laughing and nodded. “He is amazing.”

“Come on, Xiao Bai, perform a trick for everyone! First, dance a little ‘Dance of the Four Little Swans,’ and then jump through a ring of fire.”

At this point, Wang Er had already collapsed from laughter. He was trembling nonstop like a frog having a spinal reflex, looking like he wasn’t going to make it.

Duan Fei also felt that if he didn’t leave soon, he was probably going to die of laughter right there.

After saying goodbye to Yue Hua, Duan Fei left under the Samoyed’s murderous gaze, taking with him the gift prepared by the Merlin Company.

It was a portable Magic Bag containing three single-use Scrolls for his convenience.

After thanking them, Duan Fei put the Magic Bag away and began to think about what to do next.

After some thought, he decided to head to the guild first and use up his daily fortune-telling chance.

Arriving at his office, Duan Fei picked up the Fortune-Telling Machine, ready to test his luck for the day.

The Fortune-Telling Machine looked like a miniature fortune teller. After inserting an Abyss coin, it would provide the day’s fortune, along with a cryptic verse offering some hints.

After inserting one hundred Abyss coins, Duan Fei watched the little fortune teller begin to shake its head back and forth. Finally, with a flick of its fan, it revealed two words: “Minor Luck.”

Then, it picked up a brush, dipped it in ink, and wrote a line of small characters on a white sheet of paper: “Heal the world, and endure humiliation to survive.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Duan Fei asked in confusion.

Unfortunately, the Fortune-Telling Machine could only be used once a day. No matter how Duan Fei questioned it, the machine refused to answer again.

Knowing it had said its piece, Duan Fei didn’t want to waste this stroke of luck. Besides, judging from the phrase “Heal the world,” he was eighty percent sure he would encounter an opportunity related to medicine today. The only question was whether it would be a proper Medical Skill or just a Rough Healing Technique.

He went to the city’s underground parking garage and easily found a red fire door.

“Single-player dungeon, ???, possible Spiritual Shock, no game Level restriction.”

The “???” combined with “Spiritual Shock” gave this dungeon an indescribably bizarre aura. It also made Duan Fei feel that this dungeon would either turn out to be a plate of Nine-Turn Large Intestine or just a plate of shit.

‘Or both?’

Steeling himself, Duan Fei pushed the door open and found himself walking out of a bathroom stall.

Before he could get a clear look at his surroundings, a voice boomed from the bathroom’s loudspeaker: “Number 9521, you have exceeded the three-minute time limit for bathroom use. Your meal subsidy for today has been revoked.”

“Oh, sorry about that. Wait a second, something’s not right here… You guys install surveillance cameras in the bathroom?”