CHAPTER 211: CHAPTER 208 [NEW INSTANCE]

Chapter 208: New Dungeon

After finishing his business, Hall Master Li took his leave.

Chen Nuo and the others had dinner at Luo’s House.

Luo Dachan, a notorious figure, surprisingly prepared excellent mutton dishes. During conversation, they learned that before his rise to wealth, Boss Luo had suffered poverty. He started in the food industry by opening a mutton restaurant, thus making his first bit of money.

During the meal, the old man opened a bottle of good wine to welcome Chen Nuo.

To Chen Nuo’s slight surprise, Boss Luo treated him very well. However, his attitude towards Sun Keke was rather ordinary. Even after learning Sun Keke was Chen Nuo’s girlfriend and the daughter of the school’s vice-principal, Old Luo merely went through the motions of being polite—only superficially courteous.

In Luo Qing’s family home, there was an aura of straightforward masculinity.

Chen Nuo had observed carefully that the decorations and arrangements in Luo Qing’s house all reflected a rugged, straightforward male aesthetic, as if there was no woman of the house.

There was no mention of Luo Qing’s mother either.

When drinking, Old Luo was in high spirits. He engaged the two younger men, Chen Nuo and Luo Qing, and they quickly drained one bottle of baijiu before opening a second.

Chen Nuo wanted to politely decline, explaining that he still had to get home.

"What’s the rush to go back? If you’re drunk, just stay here for the night," Old Luo waved his hand generously. "The house is so big, we won’t run out of room for you to sleep, will we?"

Chen Nuo responded with a bitter smile, mentioning he needed to take his girlfriend home. Old Luo immediately picked up his phone and with one call summoned his company driver, instructing him to take Sun Keke home.

With no excuse left and not wanting to dampen Old Luo’s spirits, Chen Nuo relented.

After the driver took Sun Keke away, Chen Nuo relaxed and began to drink with the Luo father and son in earnest.

Before the second bottle was finished, Luo Qing had had enough. He ran to the bathroom to throw up and did not dare return to the table; he just leaned on the sofa and quickly fell asleep.

Halfway through the third bottle, Chen Nuo actually found it hard to drink more, but his strong spiritual power forced him to remain conscious.

Boss Luo, however, seemed unfazed. Noticing Chen Nuo had reached his limit, he didn’t encourage him to drink more. Instead, he sat there, pouring and drinking on his own.

Seeing that the dishes on the table had all gone cold, Chen Nuo stood up and went into the kitchen. He fished out some peanuts from the cupboard, fried them in oil, and brought them back to keep Old Luo company.

"Chen, Luo Qing made no mistake making friends with you," Old Luo said. He had drunk nearly a bottle and a half of baijiu but still spoke clearly, picking up peanuts with his chopsticks without a tremor in his hand. "I could tell this afternoon that you’re no ordinary kid."

"You flatter me, Uncle Luo," Chen Nuo replied with a smile.

"But what a pity," Boss Luo added.

"What?" Chen Nuo asked.

"You’re so young, why are you talking about having a girlfriend?" Boss Luo shook his head as if he truly regretted it.

What does he mean by this?

Chen Nuo was confused.

"A woman can be found any time. At a young age, of course, you should focus on striving for a future. Having a girl by your side at this time... sigh... trouble! Women are trouble!"

Saying this, Boss Luo seemed to sigh with emotion and took another drink by himself.

Right, Boss Luo didn’t get married until quite late. He had Luo Qing at forty, which would be considered late fatherhood. From the sound of it, there’s a story there.

"Being with a woman makes you happy. But still, you must restrain yourself, hold back. Spending too much time with a woman can slow down your pace," Boss Luo shook his head. "I speak from experience!"

Chen Nuo blinked at Boss Luo, choosing not to respond to this.

"In my younger days, I made a thoughtless mistake," Boss Luo said as he stood up.

Upon standing, he staggered a bit before he wobbled around the table. He came next to Chen Nuo to pat his shoulder, then turned and staggered upstairs.

"Stay here tonight. Pick any guest room downstairs; make yourself at home. Come over often if you have time in the future, don’t be shy."

With that, the old man swayed as he went upstairs back to his room.

It was only then that Chen Nuo realized that Boss Luo had actually gotten drunk too.

That night, Chen Nuo stayed at Luo’s House.

First, he helped Luo Qing back to his room, then went up to the main bedroom to check on Boss Luo—Old Luo was already snoring loudly enough to shake the heavens.

After giving it some thought, Chen Nuo decided not to leave. He made do with a night’s sleep in the downstairs guest room.

The next morning, Boss Luo left the house early. Chen Nuo heard the noise and waited until Old Luo had left before getting out of bed and knocking on Luo Qing’s door.

Luo Qing, with dark circles under his eyes and hair in disarray, exclaimed, "Damn, I really drank too much last night."

"Hurry up and get washed," Chen Nuo sighed.

While Luo Qing was showering, Chen Nuo went downstairs to the kitchen to make something to eat—after too much alcohol the previous night, he woke up with discomfort from stomach acid and needed to eat something.

At that moment, the Luo’s housekeeper came in for work.

With the housekeeper taking over, Chen Nuo was happy to be lazy. After she made a pot of porridge, he went upstairs to call Luo Qing down to eat.

"How much did you and my dad actually drink last night?" Luo Qing asked.

"Your dad had a bottle and a half," Chen Nuo recalled and answered. "But... I think your dad was drunk too; he said some pretty interesting things."

"Huh? What did he say?"

"He advised me not to get a girlfriend at such a young age, said it’s best to stay single," Chen Nuo laughed.

Luo Qing heard this and shook his head, "Don’t mind him, that’s just how my dad is; he keeps away from women."

After some casual conversation, Chen Nuo learned some details about Luo Qing’s family from him.

When Boss Luo was young, he indeed kept away from women, focusing solely on earning money and building his career. Later, as his business took off, it seemed logical for him to find a wife. People tried to set him up, and some women were interested in him.

But Boss Luo had no interest at all, and he rejected them all outright.

As time went on and he became more successful and his business expanded, no one around him was in a position to make such arrangements for him anymore, so he simply remained single.

It was not until he was almost forty that he met Luo Qing’s mother.

That year, Luo Qing’s mother was just in her early twenties, a prime example of an older man with a much younger woman when she got together with Boss Luo, who was nearly forty.

In the eighties, everybody was eager to get into college. Luo Qing’s mother was an over-age student preparing for the college entrance exam. After failing twice, somehow, she met Boss Luo.

According to Luo Qing, Boss Luo felt he was getting on in years and needed to consider continuing the Luo family lineage. Since the Luo family were all uneducated, he wanted to marry someone cultured to give his future son a touch of sophistication.

So when he encountered Luo Qing’s mother, who was still a student, he pursued her with all his might and brought her home as his wife.

Boss Luo became a father at the age of forty, with a son like Luo Qing.

However, there were problems between the couple.

As one might expect, Boss Luo, the unrefined man that he was, lacked patience with women.

And in the eighties, young women who were set on going to college were considered cultured for that era.

So, when the unrefined man and the cultured young woman spent a lot of time together, issues naturally arose.

Therefore, they divorced.

Boss Luo’s stance was clear at the time: he would give anything from the family fortune, any amount of money.

But the son must stay with him!

Luo Qing’s mother was resolute too. She agreed, took a sum of money from Boss Luo, went off to study, and after two more years, went abroad.

After the age of three, Luo Qing never saw his mother again.

To this day, it’s only rumored that his mother might possibly be overseas, with no knowledge of her exact whereabouts.

Chen Nuo felt like he understood the situation.

Twenty years later, a man like Boss Luo would be labeled as an extreme male chauvinist and a late-stage sufferer of "straight man cancer."

"Over the years, my dad hasn’t been without women, but he always keeps them outside, never brings them home," Luo Qing shared.

"And he basically maintains them with money, staying out with them for a couple of days when he feels like having company. When he’s tired of it, he breaks up.

"For him, those women outside are just tools for amusement; he never gets emotionally involved."

Chen Nuo sighed, "He doesn’t hide these things from you, just tells you everything?"

"Yeah," Luo Qing replied with a hint of helplessness. "That’s just how he is; he treats women like clothes."

Chen Nuo looked at Luo Qing, unable to help but ask, "You look to be eighteen now, hasn’t your dad ever asked about your romantic life?"

"He has."

"What did he teach you?"

Luo Qing wore an odd expression and hesitated before saying, "He said... ’Throw money at it!’"

"Huh?"

"’Offers of warmth and concern are worthless compared to a substantial bank transfer.

’Buy clothes, shoes, bags; if that fails, buy necklaces and jewelry. There’s no woman who doesn’t like these things.

’If you like her, go for it. Once you’ve wooed her to bed, sleep with her, then pull on your pants and leave.

’Oh, and make sure to be safe, don’t get anyone pregnant.

’That’s what my dad taught me...’"

Chen Nuo almost choked!

Is this really how a father teaches his son?

Just as he was about to criticize Luo Qing, he suddenly had a change of thought...

No, wait!

Such a thoroughly corrupted view on relationships, more than ten years later, had actually become wildly popular. It was also the best way to deal with gold-diggers.

Simple, direct, effective, mutually beneficial without wasting time or effort, highly efficient.

Boss Luo’s ideas were ahead of their time!

"Hey, don’t bring up what my dad said; it’s all nonsense. Just from listening, you can tell it’s utter rubbish. How could I follow his advice?"

Luo Qing sighed and then continued, "But the problem is, aside from that, nobody has taught me what’s right. I have no idea how to interact with girls."

There it is, the root of the problem.

Luo Qing wasn’t a fool, quite clever and quick-witted in school, so how did he let a girl like Xu Lücha play him like that...

Turns out, the root of the problem was with Old Luo.

Luo Qing’s approach to romantic relationships, to the thinking behind male-female affections, had been led astray by his dad, completely messed up.

"That doesn’t make sense. If you followed what your dad taught you, using money to slam the deal... you should’ve had Xu Lücha wrapped around your finger long ago."

"My dad said I can’t show off my wealth in school before I graduate. All the stuff he taught me, I’m not allowed to use it until after graduation, when I start working. Only then will he allow me to have a girlfriend."

After having breakfast at Luo Qing’s house, Luo Qing, who drank too much last night and was listless, went back to his room to catch up on some more sleep.

Chen Nuo, however, excused himself to go home.

On the way home, he even made a call to Sun Keke.

School belle Sun had taken a day off yesterday and was now back to the grueling schedule of make-up classes.

Chen Nuo verbally consoled his girlfriend—in fact, Sun Keke really wanted to know when Chen Nuo planned to start his makeup classes.

Last time, Chen Nuo promised to join School belle Sun in studying for university entrance exams.

With Chen Nuo’s crappy grades, it was getting late to start making up classes.

Chen Nuo mumbled a vague response, saying that he would definitely work hard after sorting out the store’s business after school started, and managed to fool his girlfriend for the time being.

After hanging up, Chen Nuo received another call, this time from Hall Master Li.

Hall Master Li was clearly conflicted. He first pretended to invite Chen Nuo and Brother Haonan for a meal, and then probed indirectly.

Once Chen Nuo heard this, he understood the other party’s intentions immediately. He politely declined the dinner invitation and then told Li Qingshan directly.

"The son of Boss Luo is my good friend. I was just visiting a friend’s house yesterday," Chen Nuo said with a casual smile, "I’m not interested in your business matters. But I’m sure Hall Master Li wouldn’t treat a friend unfairly, right?"

"Of course, of course!" It was then that Hall Master Li finally breathed a sigh of relief.

After exchanging a few pleasantries and ending the call, Chen Nuo began pondering something.

The way Hall Master Li had handled the "Bigfoot" incident had met his expectations already.

Plus, with the previous business in the northwest, Hall Master Li had also contributed quite a bit.

Putting these two events together, Chen Nuo did owe him a favor. Although Li Qingshan might be slick, Chen Nuo wasn’t going to let him down when it came to repaying favors.

It’s just that Chen Nuo hadn’t yet figured out how to give Hall Master Li some benefits.

To rashly pull him into his own circle, with too many secrets to reveal at once, wouldn’t do.

He was still lacking a suitable opportunity.

While thinking, Chen Nuo casually took out his laptop and plugged in the USB drive gotten from "Bigfoot" and associated with the Octopus Monster’s website.

Ever since he lured and captured Bigfoot (Harvey), he had used Bigfoot’s alias to apply for an official task on the Octopus Monster’s website. He made it a habit to check daily for any responses.

The strange "search and rescue mission" had been posted, yet there hadn’t been a response ever since.

Chen Nuo became more certain: this couldn’t possibly be a "search and rescue" mission at all!

If someone really was trapped somewhere... would a search and rescue operation wait that many days?

Those Octopus Monster folks must be scheming something.

After logging into the site again today and entering the Octopus Monster’s official mission release area...

Chen Nuo suddenly froze!

The pinned post for the official search and rescue mission was gone!

Was it revoked? Chen Nuo was a bit curious.

But soon, he noticed a new message in his private mailbox.

Sender: [Site Administrator].

Content:

Dear Mr. Harvey:

We have received your application for the mission. After careful consideration and assessing your mission completion over the past year, we are honored to invite you to accept this official assignment.

To ensure secrecy, we have removed the official announcement of the mission. However, the reward for the mission will still be as listed in the original post, so please rest assured about that.

Please note that this mission is to be conducted in secrecy, and we request you to strictly adhere to confidentiality.

If you have no objections, please reply within seventy-two hours after receiving this message.

If we do not get a response from you within the time frame, this invitation will be invalidated.

Chen Nuo’s mind stirred!

He checked the timestamp of the message; it was from yesterday afternoon.

After reconfirming that the message was indeed from the official website’s administrator account, Chen Nuo pondered for a moment but did not immediately reply.

Thinking it over, Chen Nuo picked up the phone and dialed Brother Lei’s number.

"Brother Lei, I mentioned a few days ago that I might have to go on a long trip soon... Well, yes, the time has come. I need to be away for a few days."

"Yes... Just remember not to delay the tasks I assigned you. Follow the preparations I made earlier."

After hanging up the phone, Chen Nuo called Sun Keke and told her that he was going on a trip to take care of some things.

This time, he didn’t need to lie to Sun Keke about being sent on a business trip by Brother Lei.

Sun Keke already knew some of his secrets and also knew that Brother Lei was actually working for him.

However, it wasn’t good to say too much and risk worrying the girl.

So Chen Nuo lied, claiming he needed to go to Hong Kong to find Old Jiang and the others.

Even after saying that, Sun Keke still sounded worried on the phone.

Chen Nuo stopped Sun Keke from the urge to skip class to come find him, or even see him off. After some reassurance, he finally managed to calm her down.

"I’ll be back in a few days, at most about a week. I’ll bring you some gifts when I return."

At home, while preparing to go out for her tutoring sessions, Sun Keke put down the phone. She sat there, dazed, in silence for several minutes.

Instinctively, Sun Keke felt that Chen Nuo hadn’t told her the whole truth.

But... he clearly didn’t want to tell her much, so even if she asked more, she wouldn’t be able to find out anything.

In the past few days, having their relationship confirmed, gaining parental approval, and so on... those things had slowly dispelled some of the unease in her heart. Yet at this moment, that unease suddenly surged up from the depths of her heart again!

In the end, am I... just too far from his world...

Shanghai Pudong International Airport.

International flight arrivals area.

A group of Japanese schoolgirls chattered excitedly. Staff from the Chinese host school came to meet them. The girls bowed and greeted the staff from the Chinese school with a mix of excitement and restraint. Then, they began to buzz with curiosity about the activities and interesting places arranged in Shanghai.

Xicheng Xun stood beside her classmates but didn’t join in the conversation.

She looked at the Huaxia language text on the airport signs and billboards, and at the Huaxia travelers coming and going around her.

Xicheng Xun felt a bit dazed.

This place... this was the country where he lived.

She wondered if there was any possibility of encountering him during her visit to Huaxia. Although the hope was very slim... No, it should be said that it was almost Zero. She didn’t even know if she was silly to have agreed to come here for a school trip with her classmates...

With her mind in a tumult, Xicheng Xun’s face showed none of the excitement or curiosity of traveling. She just numbly followed her classmates, slowly walking out of the airport terminal to the parking area and boarding a prepared shuttle bus.

The host was an international school located in Shanghai, which, two years ago, had established a friendship with Xicheng Xun’s middle school in Tokyo and had become affiliated with each other.

This school trip to Huaxia was part of a fixed annual cultural exchange project between the two sides. The students bore the costs themselves, although the Huaxia friendship school sponsored part of it.

Similarly, as an exchange, this Huaxia school arranged for Huaxia students to attend a summer camp in Japan every year.

This program had been conducted by the two schools for two years and was well-established with a smooth procedure.

After getting on the shuttle, Xicheng Xun deliberately chose a corner seat in the last row, then silently looked out the window.

The area near Pudong Airport in 2001 was relatively desolate, with factories visible in the distance.

Xicheng Xun’s gaze was clearly vacant, unfocused, and she stared blankly into the distance.

What the girl didn’t know was that less than twenty meters away from her, a taxi had slowly stopped.

A young man carrying a backpack got out of the car and quickly walked into the airport with his head down...

At the international flight check-in, Chen Nuo handed over his passport and ticket.

After checking, the airport staff member politely smiled, completed the procedure, and returned the items to Chen Nuo.

"If you have luggage to check in, you can go to the check-in counter."

"Thank you."

Chen Nuo smiled and headed towards the security checkpoint with his bag.

His ticket...

Destination: Rio de Janeiro/Samba Land.

[Transition complete, new instance opened, world lines converged~]