Spiritual Recovery: Gamification of Reality

Chapter 15

“I’m cold. Zheng Sen. Take off your coat and give it to me.”

“Cold my *ss.”

Zheng Sen, who was also curled up in the car, looked at Gu Hongyu, who occupied the entire backseat.

“You’re about to break through to the fifth level, yet you complain of being cold. If there’s anyone who’s cold, it’s me!”

As he spoke, Zheng Sen wrapped his coat tightly around his body.

Gu Hongyu pouted. Then, she looked out of the car window. The weather was fine yesterday, but when she woke up today, it was snowing outside.

“Hey, did you turn the heater up to the maximum?”

“It’s on.”

Zheng Sen raised his head to look at the dial, and then turned back to look at her.

“Just wait a minute. It hasn’t come up to temperature yet.”

Gu Hongyu raised her head and glanced at the old apartment in the distance where she could see Xu Bai’s floor. She asked curiously, “I don’t think Xiao Jingnan will be back so soon. By the way, what’s the department’s goal in having us follow this kid secretly?”

Zheng Sen shook his head.

“Xiao Jingnan hasn’t come back, but it doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have people in Feng City. If he finds out that his brother is dead, he will definitely come looking for Xu Bai.”

Gu Hongyu nodded and looked away, glancing at the satellite surveillance camera on her lap that projected a live feed of Jiuchang community.

Xu Bai had joined the community’s snow-sweeping brigade with everyone else.

“Do you think that this guy would pee his pants if he knew who he killed?”

Zheng Sen lowered his head, crossed his arms, and closed his eyes. He planned to sleep for a while longer, and thus ignored Gu Hongyu’s words.

Gu Hongyu glanced at Zheng Sen, pursing her lips in irritation as she looked at the laptop on her lap again. She watched as Xu Bai shoveled snow with the neighbors on the screen.

“If this guy knew that he was in trouble, he would probably pee his pants.”

However, this fellow did not seem to be as bad and unbearable as she had first imagined.

Gu Hongyu thought back to what she had heard from Auntie Wang yesterday, and how the neighbors had almost surrounded them…

“Achoo!”

“Brother Bai, you’ve caught a cold. Why don’t you rest for a while?”

“There’s no need for that.”

Xu Bai pinched his nose and waved his hand.

“There’s only a little left. After shoveling the snow, go back to the shop and take some cardboard boxes. Put them at the entrance of the second building. There are many old people living there.”

Wang Qiang nodded.

“Don’t worry, Brother Bai. I’ve already made the necessary arrangements.”

Xu Bai nodded and did not say anything else. He put on his gloves again and rejoined the snow shoveling brigade.

After about ten minutes, Xu Bai stood in the corridor and rubbed his nose, which seemed to be unusually itchy. Was someone talking about him behind his back today?

He brought up the status panel and looked at the 100 EXP that he had received from clearing the snow. After that, he immediately hit the level up button.

The EXP required to level up was now 6,000.

[Ding! Level up successful]

[Level: 12]

[Character EXP: 0/6000]

Xu Bai’s body trembled as he felt like his body was bathing in a hot spring. He tried his best not to cry out in pleasure.

After leveling up, Xu Bai felt a faint increase in his energy levels and strength.

“Wang Qiang.”

“Brother Bai.”

“Over here.”

After that, he called for Wang Qiang, who was standing at the side and directing the laying of the cardboard boxes, over. He passed the shovel to the latter and walked toward the second building.

“I’ll go to Grandma Liu’s house to see if there’s anything I can help with. You stay here and oversee things. If the children in the community want to play in the snow, let them play.”

Wang Qiang took the shovel and patted his chest.

“Don’t worry, Brother Bai. I’ll handle things here.”

Xu Bai waved his hand without turning back and walked toward the second building, leaving Wang Qiang staring at his departing figure.

“Brother Bai is still the same. As long as he’s around, he’ll help out all over the community.”

Zhao Qiang, who was nearby, nodded.

“Brother Bai is warm-hearted and considerate. He’s the reason why the community gets along so well with each other.”

Wang Qiang nodded in agreement. He then sighed. “What a pity…”

Zhao Qiang did not reply. He just nodded.

What were they sympathetic about?

Well, they felt that it was a pity that Xu Bai’s family had been involved in that car accident five years ago.

Xu Bai was unaware of the details of their discussion. Basically, he spent the whole day walking around Jiuchang community. If there was anyone that needed help, he would lend a hand. After running out of things to do, he followed Wang Qiang to maintain order.

Zheng Sen and Gu Hongyu were sitting in a car on the roadside near Jiuchang Street. They had been watching Xu Bai all day.

“I now believe that the auntie from yesterday didn’t lie to us.”

Gu Hongyu sighed. She looked at the satellite image of Xu Bai, who was with a group of people and eating. From time to time, people would come over to greet him and offer him something. She clicked her tongue.

“However, if this guy is so good, why is his attitude towards us so bad?”

Zheng Sen rubbed his tired eyebrows.

“Maybe it’s because we’re from the Federation. You do know that we don’t enjoy a good reputation among the local law enforcement agencies and departments, right?”

In that case…

Xu Bai’s attitude toward them was not because of them per se, but because they were from the Department of Homeland Security.

At this moment, Zheng Sen’s phone rang. It was his supervisor.

The supervisor called to ask if they had found anything unusual after observing Xu Bai for a day.

Zheng Sen recounted the results of today’s information gathering in detail.

The supervisor on the other end of the line did not know what to say. After a while, he shook his head and said, “Alright, let’s withdraw.”

“Supervisor, about Xiao Jingnan…” Zheng Sen was slightly stunned.

In fact, due to Xu Bai’s attitude towards them, Zheng Sen and Gu Hongyu were actually unwilling to come and protect Xu Bai in secret.

However, after watching Xu Bai for the entire day, he realized that he might have misunderstood Xu Bai, and was now eager to protect such an honest and kind police officer.

“We’ve investigated Liu San’s death,” the supervisor interrupted him.

“The case report has been made. It was the new police officer, Su Meng, who killed Liu San at the critical moment. The person we need to protect is Su Meng, not Xu Bai.”

When Zheng Sen and Gu Hongyu heard the words from their supervisor over the phone, they could not help but look at each other in shock.

Was this case report for real?

…