Life Dungeon Game

In short, he successfully received his 10,000 yuan bonus.

This time it was indeed much faster than before. It used to take at least three days, but today it was received in just a few hours. He Ao looked at the thick envelope and asked, "Captain Liu, did you advance me the money first?"

"What are you thinking, kid? Just because you're poor doesn't mean I'm not!" Captain Liu patted He Ao's forehead. "I did expedite your application, but I didn't expect it to be approved so quickly."

He Ao could tell from his smile that he wasn't telling the truth, but he didn't point it out.

However, it's unlikely that Captain Liu would pay out of his own pocket; it's probably just that the expedited process wasn't a proper procedure.

“Xiao Ao, if you consider Uncle Liu your uncle, then listen to Uncle Liu’s advice,” Captain Liu suddenly looked at He Ao seriously at this moment, “Times are different now, and you have been admitted to university. You should not do these dangerous things anymore. Study hard and you will not lack money in the future.”

Team Leader Liu's surname is Liu, and his given name is Zheng. His behavior truly lives up to his name. Although he has never been promoted in this small place, his character is absolutely impeccable. He has also taken good care of He Ao, otherwise He Ao would not have kept asking him for help.

"Okay, okay," He Ao nodded quickly, then casually added, "Captain Liu, I'll head back now. I still have to set up my stall tonight."

"You think I'm ignoring you, kid?" Liu Zheng laughed and cursed, waving his hand to signal He Ao to leave. "Get lost, I don't want to see you anymore."

"hey-hey."

He Ao chuckled, offered no rebuttal, and left the police station directly.

He's a law-abiding, good person; where would he get any danger?

Just as he was leaving the gate, a man wearing a black trench coat walked towards him, looking very aloof.

His lower body was very stable, his eyes were cold, and his face was calm.

He seems like a ruthless person.

He Ao mentally evaluated this man.

Temperament is a very mysterious thing; it is related to a person's living environment.

People who have long held high positions often give off an aura of authority without needing to be angry. This is because they have been in a central position for a long time, where they can command others. Therefore, in daily interactions, they naturally continue to act in that position. Their perspective on the world is different from that of ordinary people, and their behavior carries the autocracy and unquestionable authority of a leader, which is why people perceive them as authoritative.

Similarly, those who have truly seen bloodshed, those who have overcome that hurdle, will realize that...

They are not much different from pigs and dogs; they will die if they are killed. However, in ways they don't notice, their perspective on the world changes, and this change extends to their temperament.

Therefore, an experienced hunter can easily determine whether other hunters have seen blood.

He Ao and the man passed each other, their eyes lingering briefly on each other's faces before they continued on their own paths.

The man walked straight into the police station.

At this moment, Liu Zheng was handing out cigarettes to his subordinates. "Brothers, work hard these next two days. The sooner we catch that guy, the sooner we can relax. Two of you will go and follow He Ao for a couple of days. I'm a little worried that he might come back for a surprise attack."

“He won’t be coming back,” a deep voice suddenly rang out as a man in a trench coat walked into the room. “You don’t need to worry about He Ao for now; we will protect him.”

"Researcher Zhang," Liu Zheng said with a smile, handing him a cigarette as he led the man into his small office, "I have to thank you for that bonus approval. I just mentioned it casually, but I didn't expect you to act so quickly."

“It’s nothing,” the man took the cigarette and put it in his mouth, then followed him into the office, closing the door behind him. “We’re just a non-governmental organization, we can’t influence anything. We’re just passing on your opinion. Did ‘Bull’ leave any clues at He Ao’s house?”

“There’s a torn piece of clothing that’s already been sent for DNA testing,” Liu Zheng said, taking a white card from the drawer and handing it to the man. “And there’s this custom-made IC card. We’re trying to find out who made it.”

The man took the card, flipped it over, and then took out a UV light from his pocket and shone it on the back of the card. Two large characters, resembling a painting, appeared on the back of the card: "[Bull]". "It's the Bull's Dawn ID Card."

"dawn?"

Liu Zheng was somewhat puzzled.

“A rather active illegal grassroots organization,” the man said, putting the card in his hand. “I’ll take this card with me for now. Leave this to us. I’ll contact you if you need anything.”

-

Into the night

The speeding motorcycle roared as it sped across the road, kicking up a cloud of dust.

He Ao quickly closed the glass cabinet door of his stall to prevent dust from falling on the cold noodles and rice noodles inside.

He looked at the subtitles in his field of vision, and only then did he have time to carefully read the system's prompts after claiming the reward.

First, there's a constantly flashing countdown in the bottom right corner of your view: "[Next game starts 20:03:27]".

Then a flashing little person icon appeared in the upper left corner of my vision.

He Ao focused his attention on the little figure, which quickly unfolded into an attribute panel.

【He Ao】

[Privilege Level: Regular Player]

Physical Fitness: 15 (10 for ordinary people in the instance world, 5 for ordinary people in the main world)

[Skill: Talent Sequence 272: Super Memory (Soul Binding) (Rank F)]

Mechanical modification: None

[Martial Arts: Qi Induction (Rank F)]

This attribute panel is very simple, without many fancy features. It simply displays physical attributes and skills.

According to the data from this system, He Ao's current power is three times that of an ordinary person in the main world.

He had no idea, because combat wasn't simply about physical ability. However, he probably wasn't this strong before, maybe 1.3 times stronger at most. He relied mainly on technique in fights, and would never resort to violence if he could use his brain.

It seems that the Zhu fruit did indeed improve his physical fitness.

Then his attention shifted to that 'martial arts'.

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Chapter 16 Research Institute (Please add to your favorites, recommend, and continue reading)

"Boss, a bowl of cold noodles, please."

A deep voice interrupted He Ao's attention.

"Okay," He Ao replied, quickly opening the cabinet while glancing up at the newcomer. It was a familiar face—the man he had brushed past at the police station earlier that day. Without asking any questions, he softly inquired, "Handsome, would you like a large bowl or a small bowl, sweet and sour or spicy?"

"How was it calculated?"

The man glanced at He Ao, but his gaze did not linger on He Ao; instead, he looked into the depths of the night.

"A large bowl costs eight yuan, a small bowl costs six yuan, and sweet, sour, and spicy are all the same price."

He Ao lowered his head and answered slowly.

"Give me a big bowl, sweet and sour, to eat here."

The man said casually, then walked toward a small folding table that had been set up to the side.

There weren't many folding tables, maybe five or six. Next to the tables were a few small cylindrical plastic stools scattered haphazardly. Some young people were eating cold noodles and chatting around the tables; these were night shift workers from the nearby industrial area.

The night shift starts at 11:30, and they usually come here to eat something before 11:00.

The young people looked up at the man, glanced at his attire with some curiosity, and then lowered their heads to continue chatting.

He Ao took out a wide-mouthed stainless steel ladle, held the ladle handle with one hand, and used the other hand to scoop up a large chopstick of cold noodles and put them into the ladle. Then, he quickly added salt, MSG, chicken essence, sugar, light soy sauce, vinegar, chili oil, minced garlic, sesame oil, oyster sauce, and roasted sesame seeds.

The key to the sweet and sour flavor lies in the perfect balance of sweet and sour. If it's too sour, it will affect the taste; if it's not sour enough, it won't stimulate the appetite. Sugar can neutralize the sourness of vinegar, creating a bittersweet experience that is both delicious and appetizing.

Generally, sweet and sour dishes don't include chili peppers, but He Ao likes to add just a tiny bit. The aroma and spiciness from the chili peppers and minced garlic combined can stimulate the taste buds and dispel the chill in the body at night. However, you can't add too much; if you add even a little too much, it will overpower the sweet and sour flavor and mask its freshness.

After adding the seasonings, He Ao quickly stirred the cold noodles, even flipping the ladle in mid-air so that the noodles flew out along the inner wall of the ladle and turned 180 degrees in the air.

A key factor affecting the taste of cold noodles is whether they can be mixed well.

Anyone who has eaten noodles knows that, especially dried noodles, the ability to evenly coat each noodle with the sauce determines whether your bowl of noodles will be sweet and delicious or salty and bland.

Once every noodle was coated with a bright red and even layer of seasoned oil, He Ao stopped, opened the small side dish box, and added cooked kelp strips, blanched fresh bean sprouts, chopped scallions, and fried soybeans with a crispy crust.

The moment these side dishes and chopped green onions fell into the ladle, they were quickly stirred into the noodles.

However, this time the mixing wasn't as vigorous as before because bean sprouts had been mixed into the dough.

Some people like to add shredded cucumber to cold noodles. The shredded cucumber makes the noodles refreshing, crisp, and helps to cut through the richness.

However, He Ao prefers bean sprouts. Bean sprouts are just as refreshing and crisp, but they are not as firm as cucumber strips. They are tough on the outside and soft on the inside, and when you bite into them, the juice flows out.

He Ao used to blanch bean sprouts

Water was boiled with lemon slices. Lemon not only helps to cut through the greasiness, but it also has a unique, slightly sour taste that is different from vinegar.

When you put the bean sprouts, which have been processed in this way, into your mouth, the soft and chewy noodles, the fresh and crisp bean sprouts, the sweet and sour flavors, and the slight sourness of the lemon all come together. As they are stirred on the tongue and collided with the teeth, it's like a shy and lovely first love, both reluctant and welcoming.

It's a place you'll want to stay forever.

Of course, bean sprouts are not without their drawbacks. They spoil very easily after blanching, so if they can't be sold, they have to be thrown away. Moreover, they are troublesome to process, so fewer and fewer people are using them now.

This series of dazzling actions actually took only two or three minutes. He Ao took out a small paper bowl, packed the cold noodles, inserted disposable chopsticks, and placed it on the small table in front of the man.

"Boss, your business is doing well."

The man hesitated for a moment, then asked somewhat stiffly.

“Hmm, not bad,” He Ao said, not quite understanding what the man was trying to say. He handed the payment code to the man. “Eight yuan.”

"You look like you're working very hard," the man said, taking out his phone to scan a code to pay. He seemed unaccustomed to this kind of work, his tone awkward and stiff. "And since you're selling it so cheaply, your income probably isn't high..."

"Eight yuan received."

A voice message came from the phone.

"You're still in school, right? I have a part-time job here..." the man continued. As the conversation went on, he seemed to have gained some confidence and was about to continue when he was interrupted by He Ao's voice.

"It's really not that much. I set up my stall thirty days a month, and I can sell seventy or eighty bowls every night, earning six or seven hundred yuan a day. That's only eighteen or ninety thousand yuan a month, less than twenty thousand. Then all the costs have to be deducted, so there's not much left. It's all hard-earned money..."

As He Ao was speaking, he suddenly realized that the air seemed to have quieted down. He looked at the man in front of him and saw that the man had started eating his noodles silently at some point, which seemed to have happened when He Ao mentioned '20,000 a month'.

He thought for a moment and then continued to ask.

"Hey handsome, you just said you had a part-time job..."

"No, no, that's not true." The man quickly waved his hand. "That job isn't suitable for you."

"Oh."

He Ao returned to the stall somewhat puzzled, but since the other party was unwilling to talk about it, he didn't press them for details. Moreover, his long-term experience in finding part-time jobs told him that if a stranger approached him saying, "I have a part-time job here," they were either a shady agency or a scammer.

He Ao was scammed when he was in high school. The scammers promised him "high and stable salary", "can be done from home", and "earn tens of thousands a month", but required a deposit of 399 yuan to do so.

He Ao handed it in, and that was the end of it.