Novel Bin Chapter 80 - No Feeling
Amidst a busy, chaotic world, Ren Suo stood in front of You Jilong, giving him an evil eye.
“Why did you not come to work?” You Jilong questioned.
“I’m working in Team Two of the Countermeasure Division,” Ren Suo nonchalantly replied.
“But they did not assign any tasks to you!” You Jilong said as he pulled his lips.
“Not having any tasks is a task,” Ren Suo seriously said. He continued, “I am one of the few people who went to the construction site before. Team Two could have wanted to lure any unknown creature out by asking me not to do anything…”
You Jilong was speechless. He said, “If not for Wei Shaojun who finally grew a conscience and came back to work, I’d never have known that you have been taking your own holiday all this time, you tax thief…”
“We are all civil servants, how could I be called a thief?” Ren Suo said as he glanced indignantly at Wei Shaojun who was sitting not far away.
How silly, why would you come back to work when you could have a break…
What happened to agreeing that we all wish to be able to not go to work?
Wei Shaojun seemed to notice his glance as he exchanged eye contact with Ren Suo. He smiled and turned back to continue working for the development and harmony of society.
You Jilong could not be bothered to argue with Ren Suo any further. After all, Ren Suo was indeed working for Team Two as he had mentioned, and he did submit his work on Friday as agreed previously.
But deep in his heart, You Jilong already carved down Ren Suo’s name, ready to submit his name if there were any overtime matters to take care of in the future.
“I have to say, though, that your report was quite good,” You Jilong said in a calmer tone. He said, “At the least, you did watch the drama series seriously over the past few days.”
Ren Suo did not know if You Jilong was trying to ridicule or praise him. He laughed shyly and said, “It has always been my nature to be serious in my work.”
You Jilong said, “Although there’s nothing very special, your analysis on the monsters was indeed more comprehensive, and I can see that you did put in effort into it. Team Three was finally able to submit a full report after you submitted your part and even received the praise of the Deputy Director. He is intending to use the report as a model analysis report for Lianjiang City—other people are not as free as you and do not have so much time to watch the drama series.”
Ren Suo finally understood what You Jilong meant. He replied, “Thank you for your compliment, Team Leader!”
Ren Suo thought to himself that that was the result of him spending one entire hour trying to consolidate all crucial information in his analysis while removing parts that were unsupported in the video. Even though his report could not compare to that of the professional academics who researched on the same area, it was still better than that of the other members of the team.
Was I complimenting him?
You Jilong thought to himself as he waved his hand, saying, “The Deputy Director said that he wants you to meet him when you return to work. After you come back from meeting him, I shall think of what work I will give you…”
“Alright, I will go and find him first,” Ren Suo quickly replied.
He walked right out of the office of Team Three without stopping. But he was stopped by a familiar person right outside the door.
“You… Are you all right now?” a slightly surprised Ren Suo asked when he saw Qiao Muyi.
Just a week ago, she was on the verge of death and barely breathing for over an hour before she was received at the hospital in the suburbs of the city. It was as if she was possessed by a ghost and appeared to have her life shortened by half by the time they arrived at the hospital. How could she be running about so energetically just days later?
Qiao Muyi who was wearing the black vest replied, “I was discharged from the hospital two days ago, but the Ministry granted me a longer period off work. But I was too bored at home so I decided to continue coming to work, but at a later timing so I can rest more.”
Wow, all of you are such conscientious people who would work diligently for the advancement of our society and make me appear even more of a tax thief who only likes to play games.
Qiao Muyi laughed and said, “I saw you talking to Team Leader from outside, so I decided to wait until you were done. I haven’t gotten a chance to thank you yet and have been waiting for a chance to thank you personally. You finally turned up at work…”
“Haha, there’s no need to thank me. It’s what I should have done,” Ren Suo immediately said, averting the topic.
“Let me treat you to dinner tonight, you saved my life regardless, and I should at least be able to repay your kindness with a meal, right?” Qiao Muyi said.
Having said that, Ren Suo had no reason to reject her. He said, “Alright, but you would have to decide where to eat. I am going to look for the Deputy Director now.”
Qiao Muyi thumped her chest and said, “Don’t worry, you will definitely be satisfied with the meal.”
Ren Suo watched as Qiao Muyi walked into the office and sighed lightly before turning around and walking down to the second floor.
He knew that he could finally be considered a friend to Qiao Muyi. If he asked her to “sleep in front of him”, she might well agree to it.
However, he no longer had any feelings towards her.
In other words, Qiao Muyi no longer had the key that Ren Suo wanted.
That feeling… Ren Suo felt as if all the effort that he put in previously were all wasted. Instead, he successfully retrieved the key from Qiao Muyi due to an unexpected extraordinary incident.
It felt just like trying to get out of a maze in a game. When he was about to walk out of the maze, there was suddenly a bug that caused the rewards in the treasure chest for the maze to appear straight away.
Even though he achieved his aim, there was a bizarre sense of grief and heartache…
But was there only one key that could be retrieved from each person?
Ren Suo thought back about how the “key” feeling of attraction disappeared immediately after he retrieved the key from their holders.
In Qiao Muyi’s case, she was the first key holder whom he met again after he retrieved the key from her. But the “key” feeling of attraction did not return.
If one key could only be retrieved from each key holder, there would definitely be insufficient keys in the future.
It was either that the keys must be able to be purchased using merit points, or that there were other hidden ways to retrieve keys. Otherwise, there would definitely be insufficient keys for him to open the treasure chests after completing missions in the future…
As Ren Suo pondered about the keys, he arrived at the Deputy Director’s office. He knocked on the door and said, “Deputy Director Yu, I am Ren Suo from Team Three.”
“Come in,” the reply came.
Yu Kuangtu seemed to be quite energized. He saw the smile on Ren Suo’s face and said, “Have a seat.”
Ren Suo sat down accordingly. Yu Kuangtu asked, “How’s your Awakened Ability coming along?”
“What?” Ren Suo was momentarily stupefied at the question. He muttered, “How is it…? Isn’t it still the same?”
“Eh?” Yu Kuangtu was slightly surprised and said, “Didn’t you only awaken your Awakened Ability that day when you were saving the person?”
Ren Suo noticed Yu Kuangtu’s surprised look and thought quickly in his head:
He thinks that there would be changes to my Awakened Ability;
He thinks that I only awakened my Awakened Ability that day when I saved the person;
It was Saturday when I saved the person, today is Friday, which means six days have passed;
There would be changes within six days… that means that Yu Kuangtu would have been told that there would be changes to Awakened Abilities after they were awakened! That was why he asked such a question.
However, Ren Suo’s “Awakened Ability” was actually just an ability that he equipped from the game, and it would naturally not change as with an actual Awakened Ability.
Ren Suo rapidly thought about the entire situation and then said calmly, “Well, I feel that it seems much easier to utilize my Awakened Ability as if it is a subconscious action. It’s just like digging your nose.”
Yu Kuangtu did not react for a moment. Upon hearing Ren Suo’s unusual comparison, he did not continue probing further about his Awakened Ability. He said, “By the way, your hometown is in Fofeng?”
Ren Suo blinked. Was it finally coming? He nodded his head vigorously and said, “Yes, it is.”
“Eh… Eh… Never mind, I am too lazy to beat around the bush too,” Yu Kuangtu said.
He took out a file from his drawer and said, “Take a look at it first, I shall continue after that.”