The next day, Shen Mo discovered that Teacher Cheng, Tan Xiao, and Pan Xiaoxin had all dressed up in fresh new clothes, the picture of people ready to pay a social call.

He was taken aback. “Where are you going?”

“Boss, seriously?” Tan Xiao stared at him wide-eyed. “Weiwei said today we’re going to visit Uncle Shen!”

Teacher Cheng said, “We should have gone to pay our respects long ago. We just never had the chance.”

Pan Xiaoxin carefully smoothed out the creases in her hem. “Sister Weiwei said we need to make a good impression today — we can’t embarrass her.”

Shen Mo: “……”

This was… a bit different from what he’d had in mind.

Bai Youwei came out of the room and, seeing everyone outside already dressed and ready, was also astonished. “Wow… aren’t you all going a bit overboard? I only said don’t dress too casually, and you’ve gone and turned up looking like you’re headed to a wedding!”

Tan Xiao didn’t catch the sarcasm. He proudly ran a hand through his hair. “This is about Boss’s dignity — of course we have to dress the part!”

Teacher Cheng began to waver. “Maybe… I should go back and change into something older? Going to someone’s home in clothes this flashy might put pressure on them — that’s really not ideal…”

Tan Xiao was still riding the high of his new look and didn’t want to change back. He frowned. “I just got my hair all slicked down! If I change my clothes, nothing will match!”

“Xiao Ge, you used way too much.” Pan Xiaoxin pointed at the back of his collar. “There’s oil all over your neck.”

Bai Youwei burst out laughing, leaning on her crutch as she giggled.

Shen Mo looked at them — old and young, silly and rowdy…

He felt helplessly exasperated.

Bang, bang.

Someone knocked at the door.

He let out a silent sigh and got up to answer it. Yan Qingwen and his group had arrived, along with Yu Yaqing.

“Something up?” Shen Mo looked at them in surprise.

Yan Qingwen noticed they were all dressed and ready, and was also a bit surprised. “Did we come at a bad time? Are you heading out?”

Shen Mo glanced at the people inside, then nodded. “We’re heading over to my dad’s.”

Tan Xiao was quick to speak. “We’re leaving pretty soon, aren’t we? Since Mo Ge and his dad are going to be far apart and won’t see each other for a long time, we’re going over so his dad can put a face to our names — give the man some peace of mind!”

Teacher Cheng added, “Little Shen has helped all of us a great deal along the way, so everyone wanted to go pay a visit. Show a little gratitude.”

Yan Qingwen smiled when he heard that. “In that case, we’ll come along too.”

Shen Mo: “……”

The group had mysteriously expanded, and he found himself at a loss for words.

“What brought you all over?” Bai Youwei was curious. She looked toward Yu Yaqing. “How did you end up coming together?”

“The evaluation team is recruiting new members. After I told Zhu Shu, everyone got a little interested and wanted to give it a try.” Yu Yaqing smiled and glanced at the others. “We came by to see how you were doing, and wanted to know if you’d like to come along.”

“Oh?” Bai Youwei couldn’t help but ask. “Aren’t you in the security team?”

A flicker of stiffness crossed Yu Yaqing’s smile. “I left.”

Bai Youwei’s eyes went wide.

She had been a person of some rank, and just like that, she’d walked away.

Zhu Shu looked at Yu Yaqing, then back at Bai Youwei, and offered an explanation. “Yaqing Jie wants to go into the games to train herself. As a member of the security team, it’s inconvenient to enter the games, so she decided to switch over and try the evaluation team.”

They said it was “inconvenient,” but the truth was surely that all her fellow team members had opposed it.

Bai Youwei thought about it briefly, and the picture became clear in her mind.

With a walkthrough in hand, entering a game to train wasn’t a big deal. But Yu Yaqing’s intention was obviously not to go in just once — it was regularly, continuously, many times over.

With danger levels rising like that, of course the security team members wouldn’t agree.

Professor Song hadn’t been wrong either. The vast majority of people in this world feared death. When you could live comfortably and safely in the security team, why on earth would you go to the evaluation team and gamble your life?

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