Fu Songcheng put away his system panel and briefly summarized Chen Ke’s invitation and the arrangements that followed.
Yu Huaiting handed him the water and answered crisply, “Sure.”
After a brief pause, Yu Huaiting once again took up a fighting stance, excitement in his eyes. “Gege, we still have a little time—again?”
Fu Songcheng looked at his vigorous appearance and got into position.
The two trained in the training room for nearly another forty minutes. Then they each took a shower, changed into clean clothes, and only set out for the restaurant where Fu Songcheng had arranged to meet Chen Ke once they were ready.
It was a place they frequented too—much more expensive than others.
By the time the two arrived, Chen Ke was already in place.
The large round table was already covered with a dazzling array of dishes. Chen Ke had ordered a great many dishes—extremely lavish. Fu Songcheng remembered the prices on the menu—a single meal here cost five or six hundred points.
That was almost equal to the entire reward an ordinary D-rank instance player fought tooth and nail to clear.
Yu Huaiting followed behind Fu Songcheng into the room. Seeing this whole table of food, he nearly blurted it out, unable to hold back his complaint: “Are you eating your last meal?”
Fu Songcheng immediately pinched Yu Huaiting’s hand—neither too hard nor too soft.
Then he pulled out a chair and sat down, lifting his eyes to Chen Ke, waiting for his answer.
Chen Ke smiled bitterly. “How could it be…”
He answered verbally while holding the serving chopsticks and gesturing for the two to sit, yet at the same time directly used his private communication skill on Fu Songcheng.
[Chen Ke: It goes on Dawn’s public account.]
Hearing the mechanical prompt in his mind, Fu Songcheng showed nothing on the surface.
Seeing Chen Ke so cautious, he immediately understood and cooperatively played along.
He picked up his chopsticks, casually took a bite of the cold dish before him, and said lightly while eating, “If not, why order so much? This restaurant isn’t cheap. You must have earned quite a bit from your last instance?”
[Fu Songcheng: What happened in your last instance?]
Chen Ke chewed his food and answered indistinctly, “The final settlement was 1,000 points. A real windfall.”
[Chen Ke: Lin Feng and Chen Yu took all of us into an instance—a large twenty-person instance. The theme was hide-and-seek. At the start, an NPC kept patrolling the map, frantically hacking at people. We naturally assumed we were the hiders, and ran and hid for dear life. In the end, only when the instance time was almost up did we realize we were actually the seekers.]
[Chen Ke: The seekers had to dodge the NPC’s attacks while finding the hiders disguised as various objects—but we realized too late.]
Fu Songcheng’s expression didn’t change; he even smiled faintly, raising his teacup toward Chen Ke. “That’s great. 1,000 points—enough for you to splurge for a while.”
Hearing this, Chen Ke cooperated with a smile on his face while grumbling inwardly: Broad daylight! What sarcasm!
Yu Huaiting watched the two exchange pleasantries from the side and found it boring. He couldn’t hear the two’s encrypted mental conversation and only felt that Chen Ke was not only wasting points but also fond of putting on airs.
He let out a cold humph and unceremoniously added: “What a dish.”
The smile on Chen Ke’s face deepened: And here’s one who doesn’t even bother acting—just outright insults.
Don’t laugh. You won’t pass the second round either.
[Chen Ke: We lost. Bai Mu used her skill to escape first—she’s safe, at least. The rest of us players came under frenzied group attacks from the NPCs. Zhao Yixing took a heavy blow covering us and, at the final moment, used his skill to bless all of humanity with victory.]
Fu Songcheng lightly prodded the steamed sea bass before him with his chopsticks and picked up a piece of the tenderest belly meat. “This dish is delicious.”
His tone was calm. He turned and placed that piece of fish into Yu Huaiting’s bowl, his eyes gentle. “Try it.”
Chen Ke caught the question in his words, and he too reached out with his chopsticks, picked up a piece of fish, put it in his mouth, and chewed twice. “Not good. When I ordered, I clearly told that NPC waiter to use less salt, and he didn’t follow the request.”
[Fu Songcheng: Isn’t this exactly what Dawn wanted him to use his skill for?]
[Chen Ke: Yes. Dawn’s higher-ups wanted him to bless Dawn with long-lasting survival.]
This time it was Fu Songcheng’s turn to smile.
He smiled very naturally, even carrying a hint of mockery, as if commenting on this dish—or on something else.
“Sea bass a little saltier can mask the fishiness.”
Fu Songcheng set down his chopsticks and looked straight into Chen Ke’s eyes, saying word by word, “Otherwise it can’t be hidden—what shows through would make people sick.”
Yu Huaiting couldn’t taste a thing, and while focusing on shoveling food, he nodded vigorously along with Fu Songcheng’s words.
Looking at Fu Songcheng’s eyes that seemed to see through everything, bitterness spread through Chen Ke’s heart.
“You’re right.” Chen Ke sighed, poking at the rice in his bowl with his chopsticks, his tone low. “I used to think keeping a bit of that raw fishiness made it tasty. But now, I can’t stomach that fishiness anymore.”
Fu Songcheng now thoroughly understood the true purpose of Chen Ke’s lavish treat this time.
The Dawn guild—that massive entity flying the banner of “saving players” and “finding a way to break the deadlock for humanity”—was not entirely without selfish motives.
In the eyes of Dawn’s current higher-ups, blessing all of humanity and blessing the Dawn guild carried entirely different weight.
If humanity died out, as long as Dawn survived, that was enough; but if Dawn were gone, they wouldn’t care whether humanity lived or died.
Chen Ke had objections to this, and the reason he’d sought Fu Songcheng out at this critical juncture was precisely because he’d sensed the wariness and distance Fu Songcheng had always maintained toward the Dawn guild.
Fu Songcheng and Yu Huaiting were different from the type like Lin Feng and Chen Yu, who’d thoroughly merged into Dawn’s circles.
From the very start, Fu Songcheng had placed himself in the position of Dawn’s trading partner. Toward Dawn—no deep ties, no taking sides—which was why Chen Ke, when lost, would choose to reach out to him on his own initiative.
Fu Songcheng took a napkin and wiped the corner of his mouth, leaning back in his chair. “Are you going to complain about this restaurant?”
[Fu Songcheng: What do you plan to do afterward?]
Chen Ke shook his head with a bitter smile, picked up a slice of meat, stuffed it into his mouth, and chewed hard, as if crushing some illusion. “I’ll eat here a few more times first. This time, I’ll just remember it.”
[Chen Ke: Broadly speaking, Dawn is still genuinely providing shelter for now. I want to take Bai Mu and the others and observe a while longer.]
[Chen Ke: At the same time, I’d like to ask you—in future instances, help me look out for them a bit. They’re the foundation Dawn scraped together at the very beginning, the pillars of Dawn, and humanity’s hope.]
Fu Songcheng looked at Chen Ke and was silent for a few seconds.
[Fu Songcheng: If the timing works, I’ll help.]
He’d originally intended to take this opportunity to tell Chen Ke about the existence of the “Source Star” livestream, and the truth that they were merely entertainment consumables in the eyes of a higher civilization.
But Chen Ke’s hesitation just now made Fu Songcheng dismiss the idea.
If Chen Ke was still wholeheartedly serving Dawn, then telling him the truth about Source Star now would be equivalent to indirectly allying with Dawn and gaining Dawn’s protection. At the same time, Dawn might cause uncontrollable effects on his dealings with Shen Ning—especially since Dawn’s voice was louder than Fu Songcheng’s.
The threat of Dawn publicly revealing the truth was more uncontrollable to Shen Ning than Fu Songcheng was. Shen Ning might not still be willing to give Blue Star a chance to learn about Source Star—she might even directly abandon all of them.
Conversely, if Chen Ke ultimately became thoroughly disillusioned with Dawn, then telling Chen Ke would mean gaining an ally who could evade Source Star’s livestream surveillance.
Unfortunately, Chen Ke was still hesitating now.
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