Can Jiuluoyu Also Work As Customer Service In Wuxianliu? Chapter 14
by“I forgot long ago.”
Ding Anna wasn’t surprised: “After you disappeared, those ‘victims’ from back then also vanished. It seems highly likely they also entered the game.”
“You think they are the masterminds this time?”
“I think it’s a possibility. After all, you have old grudges. That would explain why they are interested in you.”
“No,” Tong Wei said decisively.
“How so?”
Tong Wei pointed to the spinning wheel on his clothes: “They’re all here, not a single one missing.”
Ding Anna gasped.
The figures on the clothes were twisted into small, painful knots.
“We ran into each other a few years ago. They couldn’t beat me outside, and they certainly can’t beat me in the game. This is the result.”
Ding Anna frowned.
Tong Wei tidied his props, went over the plan with everyone again, and calmly entered the Dungeon. His steps were steady, showing no hesitation or lingering fear.
It was as if yesterday’s near-death experience had been nothing but an illusion.
“Little Zhang, what did your boss say about the advertisement?” Tong Guoqiang stopped Zhang Yu, who had just returned, at the door.
“Uh,” Zhang Yu was sweating profusely. He hadn’t even seen his boss yet. “My colleague said they need to hold a meeting to discuss it. No results yet.”
“I’m troubling you, but you must put in a good word for me. Money is truly not an issue.”
“I understand, I understand.” Zhang Yu couldn’t help but be curious. “Did your son run away from home?”
He remembered the banner showed a teenager. At that age, he shouldn’t have been abducted.
“He wouldn’t do such a thing.”
“Then?”
Tong Guoqiang shook his head, indicating he didn’t know what had happened either. He was short, dark-skinned, with drooping eyelids that revealed yellowing whites, making him look utterly decrepit and drained of vitality.
“He wouldn’t do this…” Tong Guoqiang struggled to control a sudden sob. “He got into trouble with someone at school. Everyone said he was extreme and volatile, that he severely injured someone over a small conflict… But he really isn’t that kind of child. There’s no child more sensible than him. He wouldn’t even spend a single yuan of pocket money…”
“Okay, okay, okay.” Zhang Yu was quite startled. He didn’t recall Tong Guoqiang ever being this fragile.
Tong Guoqiang took several deep breaths, forcefully pulling back the encroaching breakdown, returning to his usual self.
He released Zhang Yu: “It’s nothing. You must put your heart into the advertisement matter. I beg you.”
“Alright, I’ll definitely do my best.”
Only after receiving Zhang Yu’s promise did Tong Guoqiang let him go.
Perhaps infected by the old man Tong’s emotions, Zhang Yu felt somewhat off during his studies today, a heavy feeling weighing on his heart. Subconsciously, he pulled out his phone and messaged Ghost Painter.
I haven’t seen you all day.
Went on another business trip.
That sounds exhausting.
It’s alright. How was your day?
Mine was good too. No work left.
That’s great.
But there’s something… Can our company take an advertisement? The kind that’s displayed in the game.
?
Zhang Yu recounted Tong Guoqiang’s wish. Unlike others, Ghost Painter didn’t gloss over it.
We can.
Really?!
It’s not difficult.
That’s wonderful! How much money?
No need. The company occasionally needs to do public service and establish a positive image.
I’ll work myself to death for the company in my next life! (The paid kind)
In a while, his son might just come back on his own.
Zhang Yu had recently gained a little emotional intelligence and knew that such statements in social interactions primarily served as a transition but didn’t necessarily lead to anything new. When there was nothing else to say, one should use such pleasantries to fill the conversation and avoid awkward silence.
But when Ghost Painter said it, it seemed to carry a little more weight than when others did.
After chatting with Ghost Painter, the heaviness in Zhang Yu’s heart eased considerably. By the time he went to bed, he had fully recovered, falling asleep instantly without any distracting thoughts.
Late at night, as Zhang Yu slept soundly, the Grim Reaper doll on his backpack suddenly emitted a strange light.
The light gradually expanded, quickly extending to the small bed and enveloping Zhang Yu.
The sleeping Zhang Yu remained completely unaware.
“I’m sorry, everyone…” Tong Wei spat out a mouthful of black blood.
Just as Tong Wei had anticipated, the mastermind followed them like a shadow, reappearing in the Dungeon.
The Players had indeed captured him according to the plan.
He was completely shrouded in a black robe, not even his fingertips were visible.
Everyone was cautious, carefully tightening the encirclement, preparing to seal away this mysterious black-clad figure.
But the situation changed in an instant.
No one saw how he did it; they only heard a snap of his fingers, and the souls of all the Players present were squeezed out of their bodies, floating into the air and turning into balloons of various colors.
Even Tong Wei couldn’t escape.
The techniques originally applied to the black-clad man instantly disintegrated. He lowered his head and chuckled a few times, his voice sounding broken, like a damaged throat.
The balloons froze for a moment, finally realizing their current state. After the initial panic, the balloons tried to return to their bodies, but no matter how they struggled, it was useless.
Their souls seemed to have become foreign objects, unable to merge with their bodies no matter what.
Having no choice, the balloons decisively gave up, gathering together and forming a tight formation, ready for battle. Although the Players didn’t have much fighting power left, many grains of sand make a tower. With so many balloons, he wouldn’t be able to sweep them all up even if he used a rake all day.
Under everyone’s watchful eyes, the person shrinking inside the black robe did not immediately retaliate. He stood still, seemingly lost in thought.
“Didn’t they say we only turn into balloons if he kills us? He didn’t even touch a hair on our heads just now!”
“What kind of ability is this? The scope is ridiculous. All of us were affected?!”
“Oh my god, is he really a Player? Unbelievable! We need to get out of the Dungeon immediately!”
“It’s too late. Tong Wei and the others tried last time. Once you turn into a balloon, you can’t leave the Dungeon. You must regain control of your body.”
“Stop talking nonsense, hurry up and think of a solution…”
“Customer Service! Didn’t they say the new CS is very powerful? Ask him quickly!”
[Player 1: CS guy! Hurry and save us! What do we do if we’ve been turned into balloons?!]
[Player 2: How do balloons fight a resurrection match! Waiting online, very urgent!]
[Player 3: Help, help, whose Player ability is this? Why can he turn people into balloons? We don’t even have hands now, how are we supposed to fight?]
[Player 4: Coordinates Dungeon B-1218. The Player Alliance failed. Everyone is now a balloon. The situation is extremely dangerous. CS must provide support!]
Countless anxious messages flooded the system, but the Customer Service representative, who carried everyone’s hope, was sound asleep. All they received was the automatic reply Zhang Yu had set up in advance—
[CS Little Zhang: Dear, Customer Service is currently warming up. Please wait patiently [Rose] [This message is an automatic reply]]
Upon seeing the words “automatic reply,” the Players’ hanging hearts finally died.
The timing was terrible. CS was not on Post, and they were helpless balloons again. This time, they didn’t even have the chance to gamble their lives like Ding Anna did.
It was utterly awful.
Just as the balloons were reeling in shock, the black-clad man standing in the center of the encirclement suddenly pulled a huge birdcage out of thin air.
The cage was full of lifeless balloons. No one knew how long he had kept them, but they looked like they were barely breathing.
The black-clad man opened the cage and released the balloons inside. They stumbled and rolled out of the cage, extremely weak, unable to float, and resignedly scattered across the ground.
Immediately afterward, a long pole suddenly appeared in the black-clad man’s hand. He muttered to himself, “That’s enough. We can begin.”
Everyone was confused, but it clearly wasn’t going to be anything good. They held their breath, staring intently at the black-clad man.
[Balloon replenishment complete. The Soul Target Range will open in one minute.]
An emotionless voice came from the void, echoing across the land.
[Rule One of the Soul Target Range: Souls all have a price tag.]
[Rule Two of the Soul Target Range: Hitting a balloon grants a reward corresponding to its price tag.]
[Rule Three of the Soul Target Range: The range can only be opened when the number of balloons reaches 100 or more.]
[Rule Four of the Soul Target Range: Time limit is five minutes. Shooters, please hurry and shoot the balloons to win rewards.]
After the four rules were announced, the Players weren’t idiots. They immediately connected the dots—the so-called “Soul Target Range” was the black-clad man’s ability. He had worked hard to slaughter Players in the Dungeon to accumulate soul balloons and open the range.
Most Players operated separately, and relying on the black-clad man to collect them one by one would be too inefficient. So, he used his reckless behavior to build momentum, deliberately guiding the Players to gather and surround him, allowing him to catch them all in one fell swoop.
In that light, Tong Wei and Ding Anna’s escape last time might have even been intentional on the black-clad man’s part.
Understanding the sequence of events, the Players fell into a deadly silence. They had set a trap to invite the target into the urn, but the situation had instantly reversed. It was they who had truly fallen into the abyss.
The black-clad man hummed a strange little tune in a pleasant mood: “Then I won’t be polite. Thank you all for coming all this way to bring me gifts.”
He casually tossed the long pole, which flew out at a speed invisible to the naked eye, piercing a balloon hiding in the back with a pop.
The balloon exploded, and the prompt sound in the void followed immediately.
[The Shooter hit Balloon No. 48, priced at 2,000 yuan. Rewards will be settled at the end.]
[Shooter, please keep up the good work.]
After piercing the balloon, the long pole automatically flew back into the black-clad man’s hand. He raised the pole and pointed it at the balloons, as if selecting his next target.
The balloons retreated rapidly, terrified of being chosen by the black-clad man.
“Don’t worry, not a single one will escape,” the black-clad man said. Just as he was about to swing the long pole again, a balloon suddenly jumped out, floating in front of all the others.
It was Tong Wei.
The black-clad man wasn’t surprised: “You’re still the same as before, stupid and reckless.”
Tong Wei froze, suddenly recalling Ding Anna’s guess: “It really is you? But you clearly…”
“Clearly had your soul hooked away by me?” The black-clad man sneered. He lifted his hood, revealing a face so rotten it was unrecognizable: “That’s why I say you’re stupid. I have a dual personality, two souls inside me, but you seemed completely oblivious to that.”
“Of course, my condition was terrible after you defeated me. My points plummeted, quickly reaching the execution line, forcing me to fall into a Dark Dungeon. The matter didn’t end there because of your blunder, though, since Dark Dungeons are usually one-way tickets; all Players die inside.”
“I should have been one of them, but unfortunately, I was not destined to die. I was reborn in the Dungeon and crawled back out.”
The black-clad man toyed with the long pole: “If you don’t pull the weeds out by the root, you have to bear the consequences yourself. I will kill you last, so you can clearly see how I have now… Pfft…!”
The black-clad man couldn’t finish his sentence.
—Someone appeared out of thin air and delivered a solid kick right to his solar plexus.