Facing an Ancient God for a Year

[Task Evaluation: Unpredictable Madman]

[With efforts from many parties, the theft incident finally ended, and the Native Council’s list of crimes has grown once more.

The Night Watchman Henrik was proven innocent, but whether there was a trace of his true self in the ruthless killing spree before his death is unknown.

The Native Council lost their leader in the Shangjing area. Most perplexingly, they didn’t even know how they lost him, which has led them to pay close attention to this matter.

Driven by an urgent desire for promotion, Chen Xing ultimately chose to collaborate with criminals, devising a meticulous plan and even willing to sacrifice his own son, but sadly, all was in vain.

...Thorn Blood grew from defiled bodies, a highly condensed form of pollution and error, yet fools mistook it for a high-tier form of life.]

[Elimination: Deng Feizhou, Chen Xing]

[Special Achievement: Completed the assembly of 3-0177]

[Rewards: SAN Points +45; Inspiration +5]

[Special Achievement Reward: Use-rights for 3-0177]

[Current SAN Points 132, current Inspiration 36]

[Play event recap?]

What?

In the string of prompts that rang in his ear, Fu Qian keenly sensed something amiss.

He quickly flipped back and found that particular special achievement reward.

[3-0177, Messenger]

[Effect: After activation, it will fully synchronize you with the anchored position]

[Note: In this state, time will pass in sync, and if you are killed, you will truly die.]

Fully synchronized, truly die?

Fu Qian frowned, obtaining the use-rights for an item in the warehouse was a first for him.

After some thought, Fu Qian followed the code and soon found the box for 3-0177.

He placed his hand on it to open the box, and a bloodstained white mask lay inside prominently.

Fu Qian tried picking it up, and as he held it in his hand, he felt a compelling urge to put it on his face.

After a brief hesitation, he placed it back in the box.

There was no rush to research it, better to go home for a meal first.

This time, although he had not repeated the labor, it had taken quite a bit of time.

Fu Qian took off his work ID, the scene before his eyes shifted, and he was instantly back in his familiar living room.

Taking out the prepared ingredients from the fridge, Fu Qian leisurely cooked himself a meal.

These past few days he had been feasting at Wen Li’s, almost forgetting the taste of home cooking.

After eating his fill and having a short rest, Fu Qian returned to the warehouse and quickly found the box for 3-0177.

This time, without any hesitation, he put it directly on his face.

The moment he did, Fu Qian felt a strange sensation, as if his connection to the warehouse had become even tighter.

When his senses returned, Fu Qian found himself lying on a bed.

He glanced around and immediately recognized this as the second floor of the bookstore.

Subconsciously touching his face, there was no mask.

He found the bathroom according to his memory, and in the mirror was his own face.

Fu Qian controlled his facial features, swiftly switching between his own and Fang Xun’s faces.

In this state, the mask no longer affected his ability to change his appearance.

The effect of concealing his presence, however, was still there.

As he was studying this, Fu Qian suddenly sensed someone downstairs.

Walking down a few steps, he peeked over and took a look.

Without knowing when, the bookstore had been repaired, including the front door, which had been replaced anew.

Wen Li, dressed casually, sat behind the counter, leisurely flipping through a book.

The next moment, as if sensing something, Wen Li looked up.

“Invading someone’s home is unethical.”

Fu Qian strolled downstairs and approached the counter under Wen Li’s gaze.

“Mr. Fu?”

Wen Li looked surprised, her eyes fixated on Fu Qian’s face.

“Have you returned?”

“Yes.”

Fu Qian nodded nonchalantly and asked.

“Have I been away long?”

“Over a month.”

Wen Li smiled, closed the book in her hand, and gestured around.

“And I’m not breaking in, I’m helping with some repairs.”

“`

“I’ve received a lot of help from you and have no way to repay it, so I thought I’d fix this place up a bit as a small token of my appreciation.”

“Take a look, are you satisfied?”

Fu Qian looked around.

It was clear that Wen Li had put a lot of thought into it.

While all the damaged areas were completely repaired, the original appearance was preserved as much as possible.

That’s more troublesome than building a new bookstore.

“Very nice, thank you!”

“I waited at the Night Watchmen Base for a long time, but later Chief Yuan said you had something to do and wouldn’t be coming back, and someone was sent to take me home.”

Seeing that Fu Qian wasn’t disgusted, Wen Li showed joy and began to talk incessantly.

“I was worried that you might have had an accident, but since Chief Yuan seemed to be in a good mood, I felt a bit relieved.”

“However, Uncle Deng seemed to have encountered some trouble. His residence got sealed off by the Night Watchmen, and I haven’t seen him since.”

“What about Old Master Chen?”

“Old Master Chen might have been overcome by grief. After returning, he completely refused visitors and later issued a statement that he would go into seclusion to stabilize his state. He hasn’t shown himself since then.”

That’s pretty reasonable.

Fu Qian nodded.

The Chen Family had finally produced a Demigod, but then he disappeared just like that. It must be hard for them to accept.

Refusing visitors, going into seclusion, wandering—by going through the whole process, they could at least maintain the facade for a while.

“Mr. Fu, did you come here this time for another secret mission?”

At this point, Wen Li seemed to remember something and asked Fu Qian cautiously.

Not this time.

Fu Qian glanced at her, it seems his every appearance tends to coincide with an incident, which left a shadow on this girl.

“No, just browsing around the store.”

Fu Qian shook his head.

“Is that so!”

Wen Li, delighted upon hearing this, chatted for a bit more and then left with a smile.

Fu Qian looked around and casually picked up a book to flip through.

Synchronized time, could it be that by entering in this manner, time in the real world also passes synchronously?

Could I seamlessly switch to my bookstore owner’s life from now on?

If that’s the case, wouldn’t staying in there for too long make me a missing person?

But that’s not really a problem.

Given my social circle, being missing or not doesn’t make much difference.

At most, Qin Mingze and the others would not be able to find me, but I do occasionally play at disappearing.

He lounged around until sunset, and Fu Qian took off his mask before returning to the warehouse.

After putting the mask away, Fu Qian was about to head home when he noticed something odd.

Wait a second, where is my work badge?

The work badge that was supposed to be around his neck was gone.

This…

With a sense of something amiss, Fu Qian raised his left hand and discovered a sparkling pattern at his wrist.

Had it fused with him?

Fu Qian recalled the feeling of the connection deepening.

That’s not too bad, more convenient than before.

Fu Qian tried to focus his attention on it and issued a command to disengage.

The next moment, he was back in his bedroom.

The first thing Fu Qian did was look outside, only to find that the sun had already set.

Indeed, time had passed synchronously in both worlds!

While he was reflecting on his discovery, his phone on the table rang timely.

Fu Qian picked it up to see it was a call from Qin Mingze.

There were already several missed calls prior to this.

“Are you at home?”

“Yeah.”

“We’re coming over to find you, we’ll be there soon.”

“Why are you running over here now?”

Fu Qian was a bit puzzled.

“There’s been a UFO sighting near your place; Xiao Yu and I have agreed to go have a look.”