Chapter One Hundred Eighty-Two: The Octopus's Commission

The crawfish were bought from the market, with green shells, each one lively and vigorous.

He bought ten pounds and took them home, where he filled a basin with them. Chen Nuo cleaned each one with a brush, then used scissors to snip open the tails and picked out the crawfish lines...

Well, that was Chen Yanluo's original plan.

Originally, he had indeed intended to do it himself. Cooking, after all, is sometimes a fun diversion.

But after washing ten pounds of crawfish, he barely made it through snipping a few tails before he got impatient.

He just put them back into a plastic bag, went downstairs, and ran to a restaurant at the entrance of the community, handing the owner fifty yuan to have them prepared for him.

It was the restaurant right at the entrance, where he had eaten several times before, and the owner knew Chen Nuo. After accepting the fifty yuan, the owner happily handed the bag of crawfish off to a kitchen helper to take care of it.

The owner lit a cigarette and brewed some tea, chatting idly with Chen Nuo. In less than half an hour, the kitchen helper came back with a bag of perfectly cleaned crawfish.

Not only were the crawfish lines cleaned out, but even the gills had been snipped away. Before leaving, Chen Nuo also bought a packet of "Thirteen Spices" from the owner.

On his way back, he bought several cans of beer at the convenience store at the entrance of the community, picked up a bottle of orange with pulp, and went upstairs.

Back home, he cooked up the "Thirteen Spices" crawfish in a pot. While waiting, Chen Nuo quickly whipped up a couple of side dishes.

He bought two pieces of fatty pork from the market, rendered some lard in a wok, and stir-fried a dish of green vegetables. Then he boiled some peanuts and edamame with star anise and other spices, considering it done.

Niveer wanted to sneak into the kitchen to watch Chen Nuo cook. After being chased out several times by Chen Nuo, she finally settled for chatting with Xiao Yezi in the living room.

In the kitchen, Chen Nuo switched on the range hood, a cigarette dangling from his mouth while he cooked, occasionally overhearing the chatter of the two girls in the living room.

Well, he couldn't figure out how a foreign girl and a little Huaxia girl—one who couldn't speak English and the other whose Huaxia was terrible—could chat so animatedly.

Nevertheless, the crawfish turned out to be a success, eliciting oohs and ahs from the girls once he brought out a big bowl.

Especially Niveer—watching this little sports enthusiast munch away with delight, Chen Nuo seriously worried that if she stayed in Huaxia too long, she might end up a plump little thing.

After eating two bowls of crawfish, Niveer still exhibited some self-control. She looked regretfully at the mound of shells in front of her, sighed, and stopped eating.

"Actually, there's something I've never quite understood," Niveer said, looking at Chen Nuo slowly.

"What's that?" Chen Nuo replied casually, then peeled a crawfish tail and placed the meat into his sister's bowl. He then picked up a chopstick full of vegetables for Xiao Yezi and instructed her, "Alright, this is the last one. No more crawfish for you; children can't eat too much of this stuff. Eat some vegetables, make sure you finish your rice."

Xiao Yezi obediently nodded her head, stuffed the crawfish meat into her mouth, and then bowed her head to eat her rice.

And so Niveer quietly observed the siblings.

"What did you just say?" Chen Nuo finally turned his head to look at Niveer.

"I've never understood something. You obviously have such great abilities, why stay in this city, living the life of what appears to be an ordinary student," Niveer shook her head. "The world outside is so vast, so fascinating."

"Uh-huh, and then what?" Chen Nuo nodded nonchalantly, continuing to peel a crawfish—he was very meticulous, not only eating the meat from the claws but even sucking out the goodness from the heads.

In this regard, Niveer couldn't compare—this foreign girl, for the life of her, couldn't master Chen Nuo's skill at perfectly peeling an entire set of crawfish claws.

"I think I understand a bit now," Niveer said seriously.

"What do you understand?"

"Today, when I saw you buying groceries, the look and emotion on your face, it seemed like you were very happy."

"I am happy," Chen Nuo quickly peeled a crawfish tail and threw it into his mouth, chewing while casually saying, "Why wouldn't I be happy with such days?"

"Indeed," Niveer sincerely nodded. "You are accompanied by your family, living together, shopping for groceries together, cooking together, and eating together. You have people who need your care... This kind of life is the simplest form of happiness."

Chen Nuo glanced at Niveer.

Niveer shook her head, "I can't remember the last time I cooked a meal with my family and sat down together to eat."

After pausing, Niveer frowned and said, "Even before my family passed away, it had been a long time since we did that."

"Then what was your life like before?"

Niveer thought for a moment. "My father was busy with his various foundations' work, planning climbing targets with my mother every year, training, and flying all over the world to do field research. And my sister... she was accustomed to setting one goal after another for herself, wanting to be the greatest sports prodigy in Devonshire family history, so she always pushed herself hard."

"Actually, there is no hierarchy or right or wrong. It just depends on personal choice. If it were me... at least, I prefer the relaxed and simple life I lead now."

"Hmm, I can tell, you do enjoy it."

Chen Nuo picked up a can of beer in front of him and gestured with it to Niveer.

Niveer also picked up a beer can and clinked it with his before tilting her head back and finishing it in one gulp.

This was her second can of the night, and after finishing it, Niveer shook her head and said, "You mentioned today that you needed my help with something, what is it?"

"Oh, it's something simple," Chen Nuo said with a smile. "Your reception team's assistant plan, don't stop it after the semester starts."

"Hmm?"

"I might be busy with some things and often not go to school. Keeping that title means you can cover for me when I skip classes."

Niveer looked at him, her expression a bit strange. "Is that the matter?"

"Yes."

"I thought you would ask me to give your girlfriend's father more opportunities, to provide him with more chances for promotion."

"Hahaha!" Chen Nuo chuckled and shook his head. "You don't understand. In Huaxia's education sector, the strength of the teachers is the core competitive force. In this school, Mr. Sun is the most outstanding teacher; he doesn't need me to ask for any special treatment for him. Instead, you should be the one actively courting such talent if you want your investment to yield a good return."

Niveer's tone was a bit complicated. "So you don't care at all, and you don't avoid the fact that Miss Sun is your girlfriend?"

"Of course," Chen Nuo nodded. "She is my girlfriend."

Niveer took a deep breath. "Aren't you afraid that I would get very angry about this? I can go to my partners tomorrow and get Mr. Sun fired!"

"..." Chen Nuo glanced at the girl and shook his head. "No, that's not your character."

"..." After a few seconds of silence, Niveer finally shook her head, resigned. "Indeed, I'm not."

As she spoke, Niveer opened another can of beer and raised it. "Come, let's toast!"

"Why are we toasting?"

"To wishing you and your girlfriend break up soon!"

Chen Nuo laughed.

He shook his head but still clinked his beer can with Niveer's, yet the words that came out of his mouth were very clear, "Niveer, I think our fate in this life should just stop at being friends or partners. With this drink, I hope you can soon adjust your attitude and get over your infatuation."

After dinner, expecting a British noblewoman to wash the dishes was unrealistic.

Niveer had never washed dishes in her life.

So, leaving the two girls, one big, one small, in the living room to continue their communication with gestures and clumsy language, Chen Nuo went into the kitchen to clean up.

By eight o'clock, Chen Nuo saw Niveer off.

Standing at the door, Niveer exhaled, "I had a great time eating today."

"Thanks for the compliment."

"The favor you asked of me, I will take care of it."

"Likewise, thank you."

"But I won't give up!" Niveer shook her head.

Chen Nuo frowned but spread his hands. "Suit yourself."

Athletes often have that kind of tenacious character; once they latch onto a belief, it's hard for them to give it up easily.

Having left Chen Nuo's place, Niveer descended to the roadside where her car was already waiting.

Once in the car, the driver sent by the education company drove steadily, but he was perplexed—the young girl sitting in the back was muttering to herself the whole trip, talking who knows what.

Before reaching the hotel, Niveer had already made a call, "Please ask Teacher Li to come see me at the hotel right away... No problem, I can pay for the overtime."

When the car arrived at the hotel, Niveer went upstairs to her room where her highly paid Huaxia language teacher had already arrived ahead of time, waiting there.

Teacher Li was a middle-aged woman, an excellent elementary school language teacher whose English was also quite good, chosen by the education company at Niveer's request. Niveer had been studying with her for over two weeks.

Although it was late to be called to the hotel, Teacher Li had no complaints considering the high overtime pay she was receiving.

"Teacher Li, there is a sentence in Huaxia language I learned today that I would like to ask you about, what does this sentence mean?"

"Oh?" Teacher Li smiled politely. "What is the sentence?"

"I don't quite understand its meaning; it seems like some kind of Huaxia slang. Or perhaps some sort of poetry?"

"Poetry?" Teacher Li frowned. "I know you are a diligent student, but I must point out that with your current grasp of the Huaxia language, you should focus on the fundamentals. Early exposure to Huaxia poetry won't be much help to you."

"No, I want to learn!" Niveer said with determination.

Teacher Li didn't object anymore—after all, she worked for a salary, and if her employer wanted to learn, then so be it. "What is the poetry?"

Niveer took a deep breath and recited the sentence she had learned from Xiao Yezi all evening and had repeated to herself hundreds of times in the car.

"A lama comes from the south!"

Xiao Yezi obediently took a bath and went to bed.

It wasn't until then that Chen Nuo returned to the kitchen, added some more chili peppers to the leftover crawfish in the pot, and stir-fried it all over again. He then filled a thermal container to the brim, bagged it in plastic, and carried it out the door.

He went downstairs, hailed a cab, and headed straight for the No. 8 Middle School staff residence building.

At this hour, the Sun family hadn't gone to bed yet. Old Sun had grown accustomed to staying up late—poor Sun Keke's blissful days of summer vacation were over.

Old Sun had already started looking for a tutor for her. These past few days, she needed to attend evening tutorials until nine before returning home.

This time was just right for catching Sun Keke after her classes.

After knocking on the door, it was Sun Keke who answered.

She had clearly just gotten home not long before, and seeing Chen Nuo standing outside, the girl seemed pleasantly surprised, "Chen Nuo? What brings you here?"

"I've brought you a late-night snack," Chen Nuo said with a beaming smile as he stepped in and handed the bag over to Sun Keke.

Old Sun poked his head out from the room and gave Chen Nuo a sour look, but eventually retracted his head.

Yang Xiaoyi, on the other hand, was a lot more polite than before and even took the initiative to wash an apple for Chen Nuo.

Chen Nuo kindly declined the offer from Yang Xiaoyi to peel the apple for him, and with a cheerful smile, she teased, "You guys chat," before turning and going into the inner room.

Chen Nuo sighed inwardly; it seemed he had passed Yang Xiaoyi's test.

Sun Keke had already opened the thermal container and saw that it was filled with crawfish. She was taken aback at first, then broke into laughter.

"I made it at home and added extra chili because you like spicy food," Chen Nuo said warmly. "You haven't been eating or sleeping well these past few days, and you've lost quite a bit of weight. You should eat more late-night snacks to get healthier."

Sun Keke understood full well that Chen Nuo's words were not entirely good-natured, yet she sweetly rolled her eyes at him and then deliberately chuckled, "I want you to peel them for me."

Chen Nuo efficiently peeled three or four crawfish in one go, then wiped his hands with a napkin. "You can eat the rest by yourself. Ye Zi is still sleeping at home, and it's quite late. I don't feel comfortable being away for too long."

Sun Keke, being understanding, didn't cling or fuss any further. She got up and walked Chen Nuo to the door, her eyes filled with deep affection. Even when Chen Nuo swiftly kissed her on the lips upon leaving, the girl didn't resist or shy away.

There was still about a month left of summer vacation.

For Chen Nuo, the previous month had been incredibly grueling. After traveling abroad and having faced the harrowing event of battling an alien Mother entity, he returned and immediately rushed to Xi'an to save someone.

So, for the remaining days, he decided to properly relax and be a 'salted fish.'

Once Chen Nuo was free, naturally, the happiest person was Sun Keke.

However, School belle Sun was oscillating between joy and agony these days.

As Old Sun and his wife had high hopes for their daughter, they arranged a significant amount of tutoring time for the last summer vacation before her senior year. She had tutoring four days a week, and she had to practice exercises at home during the other days.

Sun Keke's weakness was mathematics—those who have been through it know that dealing with college entrance examination math offers no shortcuts; extensive practice is the best method for improvement.

Thus, Sun Keke could only occasionally snatch some time to cling to Chen Nuo, having a meal together or watching a movie now and then.

Sometimes, Chen Nuo even took on the task of escorting Sun Keke to and from her tutoring sessions, all so they could spend time together.

Watching his girlfriend become thinner under the heavy pressure of studying, her chin even becoming more pointed, Chen Yanluo's heart ached at the sight!

He couldn't help but increase his visits to the market, sometimes cooking a couple of dishes at home, making a special meal for his girlfriend, or whipping up a late-night snack.

But even with all this, Sun Keke kept losing weight day by day.

According to her, she would practice problems until late at night, and because she wanted to make time for dates with Chen Nuo, she couldn't sleep in during the day.

Once, while watching a movie, Sun Keke fell asleep before even a third of it was over.

Yet when he suggested that Sun Keke not come out to meet up and instead get more sleep at home, the girl staunchly refused.

Meanwhile, during these days, Zhang Linsheng quickly stepped into his role and got into the work groove.

Every day, he would go to the shop on Daming Road to act as the renovation supervisor—indeed freeing up Brother Lei from a lot of trouble, as Brother Lei was busy with the old store on Tangzi Street and couldn't be there every day to oversee the renovations.

With Zhang Linsheng overseeing the new shop's renovation, he would go there in the morning and stay all day long. This young man was very diligent, watching the renovation workers work all day and frequently asking questions, not content with just supervising but also trying to understand many aspects of the renovation process.

Though young, he had a good father, Zhang Tiejun. Every day during his lunch break, Zhang Tiejun would walk one station over to check things out.

There were things Zhang Linsheng didn't understand, but Zhang Tiejun could see them.

However, Old Zhang, with his middle-aged social experience—some things, even if he saw they were not right, he would not directly tell the renovation team. Instead, he would pull his son aside to discreetly instruct him, and after leaving, let Zhang Linsheng go back in the afternoon to pick out the issues himself.

This way, he could also quickly establish his son's authority when facing the renovation team.

In this era, legitimate renovation companies were virtually non-existent—most were simply contractors leading a team of guerrillas taking on various odd jobs, the industry extremely chaotic, with many less than honorable activities not uncommon.

Of course, even more than a decade later, things would only be slightly better, but still much the same.

Zhang Linsheng supervised the renovation for some days, during which he had several quarrels with the contractor of the renovation team, but he finally began to grow up. Sometimes, when Chen Nuo casually strolled by the shop, he saw Zhang Linsheng, cigarette in mouth, sleeves rolled up, arguing with the workers, then laughing and handing out cigarettes after the argument—starting to look a bit like a young boss.

As time was about to reach early August,

one evening, after soothing Chen Xiaoye to sleep, Chen Nuo sat in his room, opened his laptop, inserted the USB stick from the Octopus Monster website, and decided to casually browse some Underground World news.

After entering the free trade zone, the first post he saw bore a striking title.

[Bombshell! The Empress challenges the Cultivator Association repeatedly, and the Wizard still hasn't shown up!]

Below the post was an account of the Empress's recent activities in Europe, where she had been demonstrating her might, singlehandedly sweeping several of the Wizard's Cultivator Association spots and defeating several senior core members.

The comments below were unanimously of the sort that reveled in the chaos, such as [The Empress is mighty][The Wizard is too cowardly].

Some even questioned whether the Wizard's continuous absence indicated that he had already confronted the Empress and been defeated by the Star Sky Empress, thus why he kept hiding and not showing himself.

And the second hottest post in the forum was...

[Blade Knights admit defeat to the Empress].

It was a public statement from the leader of the Blade Knights, openly admitting in the forum that the Empress is Britain's top expert, expressing that all members of the Blade Knights would maintain sufficient respect when encountering the Star Sky Empress from now on.

—Clearly, they had been convinced by defeat.

Seeing these two pieces of news, Chen Nuo sighed in his heart.

By this account, the two tasks that Lu Xixi had to attend to in Europe should have both reached their concluding phases.

Next, she should be coming to Huaxia to meet with me, right?

Ah... what a headache!

With a casual click, he switched tabs and jumped to the [Official Task Area].

As soon as the tab switched, Chen Nuo couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

Traditionally, in the [Official Task Area] of the Octopus Monster website, the top position was always occupied by a long-term task posted by the website: the Octopus Monster website offers a standing reward for the purchase of large octopuses.

The website encouraged Psychics from all over the world with generous rewards to catch and sell large and distinctly shaped octopuses to the official channels provided by the website.

In the past, including in his previous life, Chen Nuo had always thought that this might be merely a personal eccentricity of the so-called "Octopus Monster", the backstage boss of the octopus website: a fascination with researching octopuses.

But after the RB journey, Chen Nuo had realized that the long-term behavior of the Octopus Monster in collecting octopuses was very likely related to the underwater ruins of the alien civilization.

Today, the pinned position in the section, where the long-standing post for purchasing octopuses used to be, had been unexpectedly replaced!

In its place was a new task released in the last few days, pinned prominently at the very top.

[S-rank task, recruitment.]

After clicking into the post, Chen Nuo saw that the content of the task was as follows:

[Task Content]: Rescue type.

[Task Requirements]: Destroyer level or above, with a preference for Mentalist experts.

[Number of Agents Required]: Eight.

[Reward]:

A free one-off official website task assistance, category and time unrestricted. (Depending on the contribution rating, one can obtain a task of A, B, or C grade respectively.)

B Two hundred million M Country dollars cash reward (allocated according to task contribution rating, with a single individual not exceeding 50% of the total reward)

[Task Details]: Survey the specified area, rescue the target individual, and eliminate all threats within the area that could affect the rescue mission.

[Task Caution]: This task is a high-level assignment. There is the possibility of confrontation with secular world governments, official organizations, and local forces during the execution of the task. Please choose carefully.

These were the details provided for the release of the task.

The only hidden part was the "specified area" of the rescue, which was concealed.

Clearly, only those who enrolled, passed the selection process, and accepted the task successfully would be able to see the more detailed sections.

There were two points that caught Chen Nuo's attention regarding this post.

The first one was that the post was actually pinned by the Octopus Monster website! It had replaced the original long-term task for purchasing octopuses.

The second was the task's requirements, specifying a preference for "Mentalist experts", and the fact that the number of agents required was eight people!

This made it very easy for Chen Nuo to recall the underwater encounter in RB.

There were also many comments and messages below this post.

Clearly, the Octopus Monster's official website had canceled their long-standing post soliciting octopuses and replaced it with this commission quest.

This move had piqued everyone's curiosity.

Many comments shared a consensus: it was apparent that for the Octopus Monster's boss, this task was of great importance.

Secondly, some people were astonished by the generous reward offered for the mission.

Two hundred million M Country dollars in cash, without inflation over a decade or M Country's era of printing US dollar bills across the globe, was still very valuable in 2001.

Besides the cash, that one-time free commission offered by the Octopus Monster website was also considered very valuable.

The implication was clear: after completing the commission, one would earn a "wish" opportunity provided by the Octopus Monster website. Depending on the contribution to the completed task, one could choose a commission from three levels, A, B, or C, and the Octopus Monster website would foot the bill.

In the comments, some well-known IDs on the Octopus Monster website even emerged, several of which belonged to notorious figures in the Underground World.

Chen Nuo soon set his sights on an ID named "Bigfoot."

This "Bigfoot," Chen Nuo knew his true identity, having had a transaction with him in his past life.

He was a Mentalist, a Destroyer-level expert. His strength was close to that of The Abyss' Captain, perhaps even slightly higher.

His real name was Harvey, a South American.

In his past life, during a mission, Chen Nuo had worked with this fellow—it wasn't so much cooperation as both of them having accepted the same commission.

This "Bigfoot" ID, Chen Nuo always thought he had chosen the wrong alias.

He shouldn't be called Bigfoot, but Bigmouth instead.

The man had an offensive mouth, arrogant and overbearing, boastful and obnoxious, his language coarse and unpleasant.

During that collaboration, it took a tremendous amount of willpower for Chen Nuo to resist killing the foul-mouthed fellow himself.

However, in his past life, this guy didn't end up well either.

During the years when Chen Yanluo drifted at sea, Chen Nuo learned from the Octopus Monster website that this fellow had died.

And it was likely at the hands of a Wizard.

Under the commission post, Bigfoot's comment was high-profile and brash: I'm very interested! Such a big piece of cake, I think I can swallow it all by myself, no need to share with eight people!

Since this fellow was always so ostentatious and truly powerful, many IDs left flattering comments after his message.

Upon seeing this, Chen Nuo frowned.

He thought for a moment, picked up the phone, and dialed Lu Xixi's number.

A moment later, Lu Xixi answered the call.

"Hubby~" Lu Xixi sounded as if she was in a great mood.

"Hmm."

"I'm almost done with my affairs here, and I'll be able to come to Huaxia to see you in a few days. There was a tiny, tiny bit of an accident. While I was catching a few rats from the Cultivator Association, I inadvertently discovered something interesting. I'm still tracking a few guys… So, I might need to postpone my trip to Huaxia just a little bit."

Lu Xixi laughed easily.

Chen Nuo too smiled. "No worries, I'll wait for you… The trouble with the Cultivator Association can wait, especially if it's too complicated. Just be careful."

After a pause, Chen Nuo casually asked in a seemingly relaxed tone, "Did you see that new sticky commission on the Octopus Monster website?"

"I saw it yesterday." Lu Xixi replied, seemingly unconcerned. "I'm just curious how important this task is to have that monster give up on his favorite octopuses, even temporarily."

"Didn't he contact you?" Chen Nuo laughed.

"Of course, he did. You know, as usual, I'm a golden account holder on his website, and I'm also employed as a senior consultant. For an S-level commission like this, that monster has already personally called me to ask if I'm interested in joining. The reward could be up to one hundred million for me."

"… Did you accept?"

"Of course not, I turned it down." Lu Xixi chuckled. "I want to finish things here as quickly as possible, then go to Huaxia to see you. So I have no interest in that monster's proposition."

At this point, Lu Xixi asked, "Eh? Why, are you interested in this task? Your Telekinesis is very strong, and you've reached the Destroyer level. Do you want to go? If you want to, we could go together?"

"No, I'm not interested," Chen Nuo immediately denied. "I was just curious, asking you casually—if you had accepted the commission, maybe I could hear some gossip from you."

Lu Xixi didn't suspect anything and laughed. Soon the two deviated to other topics.

After reminding Lu Xixi to stay safe, Chen Nuo hung up the phone.

Of course, Chen Nuo had lied to Lu Xixi.

He was very interested in the task!

Mentalists, eight people!

These two pieces of information were too suggestive!

But Chen Nuo didn't plan to accept the commission with his own account!

After killing that Mother entity himself, Chen Nuo naturally became sufficiently wary of the Octopus Monster, whom he highly suspected of having ties with the alien relic.

If the Octopus Monster was also searching for the Mother entity, then who knew what his stance might be.

And Chen Nuo was even more reluctant to use his own identity to accept the commission.

If he used his own account to accept the commission, and if there were to be any future opposition between him and the Octopus Monster,

The Octopus Monster could easily trace Chen Nuo's real-life identity through the financial transactions on his account.

In that case...

Chen Nuo pondered for a while, his gaze fixed on the screen, lingering on the ID named "Bigfoot."

BANG BANG BANG.