He is the leader of the Tantric sect in Chagdu.

What's it like to have an awesome first playthrough?

Grey showed him directly through his actions what it means to have the first fox plant the tree so that the second fox can enjoy the shade.

Just like the resetting and reincarnation in a low-quality browser game, Ai felt like she was experiencing a numerical explosion.

Gray's grand intercalation ceremony, which involved giving everything he had, raised his upper and lower limits to a level that was difficult for ordinary people to understand: "dividing into four" and "personally writing the original text." The former allowed the fox to ignore the disadvantages of each path at each stage. As long as the promotion resources kept up, the panel would soar in the direction of a hexagon.

As for the latter...

At the end of the road to the heavens today lies the position of the God of War.

Ai sighed, her eyes darting around, her tone wistful: "If people knew this, they'd think some old man couldn't take a joke and had to quit."

The force that disrupts the balance is generally called a "hanging force".

However, this power is not without its costs. Simultaneously operating on four paths not only consumes four times the resources, but the complex and accumulated criteria also put enormous pressure on the vessel. Criteria are both power and burden, and multiple criteria can greatly increase the risk of mental dissolution, loss of control, and other ascending risks.

But Ai doesn't need to worry about these things for now. His vessel has been enhanced by the "Dyeing Ritual," making it transparent and stable, and at least for the time being, it is almost indestructible.

Grey had even laid the foundation for him—the invincible, ruthless king had thought of everything!

The fox snorted twice, shamelessly muttering to itself.

"As expected of me..."

The ultimate level of being a kept man is "I'm getting something for nothing from myself."

However, he quickly realized a problem: "Does that mean I need to collect promotion materials for four people?"

The path of divine intervention is manageable; as long as I continue to write the original texts, this "exclusive" path will open up for me. But what about the other gaps?

- Does the organization reimburse the promotion ceremony?

"There might be reimbursement... but consider your current position. Big companies certainly won't give an intern much of a budget. Why don't you infiltrate the enemy camp and try to climb a few steps up the ranks?"

"Ugh... this is so troublesome." Ai messed up his hair, and just thinking about all those complicated materials gave him a headache.

- No wonder Grey wanted to create his own esoteric sect. Some things are too difficult to handle by one person alone: ​​an apprentice walking on a grand path needs at least half a platoon of support staff behind him - this is never a joke in the realm of mystery.

The door was still noisy as always: "Don't tell me... in the two weeks you've been at the foundation, all you've done is eat and do nothing else?"

"Nonsense... I am studying hard."

Ai Yi tilted her head back and said confidently, "Besides, I've also built good relationships with my colleagues here. Once the probationary period is over, I'll be able to take off my internship soon."

"Fine, whatever makes you happy—"

Ai suddenly changed the subject: "However, actually, after thinking about it carefully, it seems that the method of revelation isn't lacking much material..."

He clapped his hands gently, and a jet-black raven emerged from nowhere, perching on his right shoulder—its two black diamond-like eyes moved slightly, watching Ai without moving.

"Coo coo, turn into a book."

The next moment, accompanied by a light "coo," the crow spread its wings, and as the embers fell, the charred tomes emerged from nothingness and silently burst into flames.

Ai squinted and looked up at the silent continuation in mid-air:

The Gift of Sprouting (missing one nutrient), a black raven tail feather (√, the raven sheds its feathers naturally, not plucked!), an ounce of carbon remains (a product of chemical blackening, can start trying to make it), the last phalanx of the mute (can be found in the trash cans of the prosthetic hospital, the nest never lacks human components), a revelation (will ask Virtue later), the influence of Ash/memories of winter (is good buddies with Sichen, can be obtained anytime).

Looking at it this way, it's not that difficult to handle?

The next second, a light screen suddenly popped up in front of her, interrupting Ai's thoughts.

"Current time 6:30: Dawn has ended—new user registration and panel update functions are temporarily closed. For related service requests, please wait for the next season of radiant cold..."

Oh, half an hour has already passed?

Ai Yi seemed to be deep in thought.

—Different seasons... are an important standard in the Grand Prayer Pool.

He has now escaped the "mysterious newbie" situation. After half a month of intensive basic knowledge training by the Countermeasures Bureau, Ai has also gained an understanding of some mysterious concepts:

In the mysterious and real world, certain elements of nature can be abstracted and refined into a medium—this is what is called "nature," which can be summarized as the "characteristics" and "attributes" of the natural rules.

For example, not long ago, Ai saw through Ne's red liquid her "sexual aspect: anemia" and the "sexual aspect: gray matter" left by Gray.

These "natural laws" that are firmly established in the nest world... are equivalent to "keywords" in a thesis.

In fact, even "criteria" are a kind of nature: they are extremely important cornerstones used to construct "the world itself"—representing certain characteristics and also being concrete objects that contain mysterious forces.

Therefore, the fall of the standard is equivalent to the destruction of the world.

This is the origin of "curse binding".

And "season" is a kind of "nature".

The changing seasons have great significance for mysticism—in times when the sun had not yet set, humans would predict the future by observing the movement of distant stars, and primitive astrology arose from summarizing the movement of the stars.

The nest today relies on the changing seasons to understand the principles of nature... This has been the case ever since the sun died.

Ai pondered for a moment, then whispered towards the door, "Little White, do you know anything more about the details of the Extinction Day?"

He recalled the secrets he had heard from "Silent Raven" and the remains he had seen when he peered into the "Dome" from the White Beak's perspective, and he seemed to be deep in thought.

The doorway reminded us: "After the pilgrimage of the extinguished sun, the seasons pass, and the division of the blazing sun re-divides the eternal noon, giving birth to dawn, day, dusk, and night—these are the four most basic seasons, and their cycle symbolizes the passage of time..."

Oh, I remember now.

Ai clapped her hands and muttered to herself, "The setting sun, the lonely moon, the cold white flowers... If I remember correctly, these are the three names that shared the blazing sun during the grand pilgrimage."

"Shh! Keep your voice down—Jiaoyang is dead, but these three are still alive."

The doorway solemnly warned: "You are the only one to tread the path of celestial light. The radiance gathered around you is bright and vivid, easily attracting their attention... Before you climb to the grandeur and be crowned the Divine Lord, be careful to avoid them—do I need to teach you how to steal a chicken? Just be as discreet as possible..."

"I know..."

Ai muttered under her breath in a mischievous tone, then gave a bitter laugh: "Three Magnifiers... a moth, an entire Foundation, my enemies, just saying it is enough to send shivers down your spine."

The door remained unmoved: "The richer the inheritance, the more enemies one has. It's a simple truth. The mysterious world is incredibly cruel, and mercy and justice have never been its true colors. And you, the one who basks in the light, Ai... if you don't want to become nourishment for others, even if you despise this rotten nest, you must be colder and more frigid than anyone else."

Ai Yi was taken aback, then said helplessly, "It sounds... like a compromise."

"Compromise is only temporary. When you roam the bottom of the Red Pool and reach the top of the Tower, this dog-shit-like world will have a master—after that, whether it is a promised cleansing or a rebuilding after burning, it will all be according to your will."

"Xiao Bai, you're still so good at making empty promises..."

Ai closed her eyes halfway, sighed softly, and then quietly tightened her collar.

It suddenly feels a bit cold.

He looked towards the distant White Pagoda, where the grass swayed at his feet, and the surging greenery stretched to the horizon like a tide.

got windy.

Looking across the lake, Virtue was still fast asleep on the soft earthen slope. The swaying grass enveloped the girl, and her petite figure and peaceful sleeping posture made her look like a curled-up cat.

It's just a cat.

Should we wake her up?

After hesitating for a moment, Ai smiled faintly and shook her head: "Let the boss rest here for a while. She's tired too. I've already caused her enough trouble..."

Ai bent down and dipped his hand into the cold lake water, looking at his reflection in the almost transparent surface. In this world standing in the red pool, a part of the essence flowed in the reflection. He saw a small gray fox standing on the lakeside, its pale blue eyes blinking at him.

Ai imitated his blinking of gray eyes, stirring up ripples that scattered the image of the gray fox. After the ripples subsided, the image in the lake turned into a mottled shadow, which quickly reformed into a black-haired boy with square-framed glasses.

Ai squatted down, deep in thought, a little unsure of herself: "I doubt anyone could tell..."

After Moth's whimsy reached the level of "accommodation," no one had been able to detect his disguise during his two weeks at the Foundation. In this way... Ai might actually be able to use the identity of "Aileen" to climb up the ranks within the system.

He licked his lips, his gaze hazy—

As the leader of a secret religious sect, a "taboo" figure regarded as a threat by the entire group, perhaps he could hold an important position in the foundation's headquarters...

Just imagining such a scene made Ai a little excited, but it was too early to think about it now. He coughed twice:

"Your online time is up. How do I log off?"

"Log out, yes/no?"

-yes.

A slight dizziness washed over her, and the next instant, Ai opened her eyes on the side of the real world.

"Huh?"

Just as the fox climbed out of the dream chamber, a resentful little face came into view. The fox was taken aback at first, and then it remembered that... it seemed that there were more than two people who had come.

There was someone whose presence was so faint that I accidentally forgot about them.

Ai Yi's expression remained unchanged, seemingly oblivious to Cui's displeasure. She stretched leisurely, got up, walked to the door of the dream room, and turned back to give Cui a "shh" gesture.

"Shh... let's go first."

emerald:"?"

Still in a daze, Ai's figure had already disappeared outside the door. Cui stared blankly at the sleeping Virtue beside her, gritted her teeth, turned around and chased after her—

"Wait... what about Officer Wei?"

"Wei Sir is very tired. She just came back from Uptown and has to work hard, and she also has to help the new recruits get familiar with the environment. Let her stay here and get some rest."

Ai stopped at the corner of the door, watching the girl chase after him angrily. A mischievous smile appeared on her face as she casually remarked, "You seem quite concerned about Wei Sir...do you like her?"

"Cough cough—" Caught off guard by the strange question, Cui almost choked on her breath. When she looked up again, her face was flushed and her eyes were glistening with tears. "Wh...what are you saying?!"

"Eh...don't you think so? Maybe I'm seeing things..." Ai sighed heavily, then chuckled, "I feel like your eyes are practically glowing every time you look at Wei Sir..."

- Stop pretending with me. This guy's admiration for Wei Sir is overflowing just by looking at him.

"I'm not actually against sex, but I'm against office romances. They affect work efficiency and have a very negative impact on the workplace atmosphere..."

Ai was still spouting nonsense, while Cui was clearly about to break down; her face was visibly flushed, and she was biting her lower lip so hard it was almost bleeding.

"Senior...please don't joke like that."

But the girl seemed to have a strong ability to withstand pressure; she didn't even explode at Ai Yi's hands. The fox curled his lip, feeling a little bored.

The doorman grumbled, "You should really tone down your perverse sense of humor!"

"I really don't mind cute girls sticking together... but I'm very sorry if you don't like me saying this."

Ai danced around on Cui's minefield, retreating unscathed: "But we'd better keep it down, so we don't wake up Wei Sir..."

Cui took a deep breath, and her flushed face returned to its fair color, though a faint blush remained.

The more she looked at him, the more she felt that something was off about this dazed guy in front of her—

From the moment they met, both Virtin and he seemed to be led by his rhythm...

This is very problematic!

He took two barely perceptible steps back, as if moving away from Ai Yi could bring the girl a sense of security.

"Are you sure you want to work for Wei Sir from now on? Let's go to our office first, and I'll show you around the work environment."

Cui followed silently behind him, while Ai herself was already lost in thought—

He thought that Nest City had always been open-minded about relationships, even to the point of being decadent... After all, they were all different races, and gender was no longer an issue.

After the first encounter with Silverpa at the Moon Bar, Ai has developed an immunity to this kind of trend in the Nest City—at least visually.

However, he himself is still the purest heterosexual, and his stance has not been swayed by the popular "boy-girl" trend. Although his true form is an incredibly cute fox, he is still a fundamentalist lover of beautiful girls.

At most, I can accept a little bit of cute girl stickers.

However, after carefully examining the girl with emerald green eyes once again, Ai Yi retracted part of her earlier judgment.

—Besides longing and admiration, her feelings for Wei Sir seem to be much more complicated. There is resentment hidden in the gaps of longing, and unspeakable inferiority behind admiration... Perhaps, there is also a part of jealousy and timidity that have faded away.

The feelings between girls are really hard to understand.

Feeling acutely aware that his empathy was still insufficient, the fox lamented the complexity of human nature while tilting his head and forcing a meaningless smile from the corner of his mouth.

He was making his own assessment:

"It's really... quite fresh red liquid."

The crimson liquid is formless, rising only through the mind—if one were to try to explain it, Ai Yi vaguely felt that the conflicted girl before her might be someone with "extraordinary talent."

Her sensitive and easily shaped mind determined her extremely high "ceiling," but that fragile vessel also brought danger to her future.

Like "a glass blade held in a delicate palm", "sharp thorns entwining herself", she was covered in blood, yet a transparent sharpness could be seen from her wounds.

It would be a waste to leave such a beautiful glass cutter lying around gathering dust in an unused place.

Taking the elevator, she unknowingly arrived at the end of another corridor. Ai swiped her internship card around her neck, pushed open the door, and went inside.

"Welcome to... Miss Wei's Fan Club. Actually, this is my temporary office. Please make yourself at home."

Cui quietly followed Ai Yi in, looked around, and found that it was indeed an ordinary room with only a few workstations, making it seem deserted.

She casually chose a corner to sit down, even sitting upright, her cautious and timid posture resembling that of a high school student with their homeroom teacher right in front of them.

"Don't be so nervous..."

Ai gently comforted her, then turned and walked into the lounge area behind the office: "Would you like some tea?"

Cui Ruoqi said defiantly, "Please make yourself at home..."

"Wait a minute, sorry, I forgot this awful place doesn't have tea. Would coffee be alright?"

Ai poked her head out from in front of a hand-drip coffee machine: "My hand-drip coffee is amazing! Everyone who's tried it just says it's incredible. Want to try some?"

"No..." Cui wanted to refuse, but then she thought that this strange guy might pester her, so she changed her mind and said, "Thank you for your trouble."

- I've been waiting for you to say that.

Ai turned her head to make sure Cui behind her couldn't see her expression, and secretly smiled like a fox.

Since the mice volunteered for the experiment, I won't sign a disclaimer.

While grinding industrial coffee beans, Ai secretly added something to the black powder—a few charcoal-like particles were crushed with his fingertips and mixed into the coffee powder, completely invisible.

The "unfinished philosopher's stone" brought out by Gray Garden, a byproduct of secondary processing, seems to be a failure in terms of appearance alone, but the door has marked it with green lettering:

"Alchemy Consumable: Dye (Rough/Green) – Roughly based on dyeing rituals, this ingredient might be able to be mixed into the material of the vessel, subtly altering its strength. The estimated effect... is probably on par with the health benefits of 'drinking goji berries'."

"Note: This kind of garbage was made from the remains of the Philosopher's Stone. Your punishment is to read thirty pages of 'The Alchemist's Notebook of Ash' today."

Ai ignored him, lost in her own world.

- Goji berries, I know that, isn't it a Chinese medicine?

The effects of most traditional Chinese medicines can generally be described in two words:

"Idealism".

Coincidentally, vessels are also a kind of idealistic thing, so they match perfectly.

As Ai watched the extract slowly flow from the coffee machine, she murmured softly, "Young lady, after drinking this medicine, you will be a patient under the care of the King of Traditional Chinese Medicine in my Nest Capital."

Alchemy-based Traditional Chinese Medicine: Saving Lives and Healing!

"Coffee's here!"

Serving your first creation, made through alchemy, on the dinner table is a very rewarding feat.

Under Ai Yi's piercing gaze.

Cui picked up the cup and took a sip...