Chapter 97: Trio in the Maze
Chapter 97: Chapter 97: Trio in the Maze
"Uh."
Wang Xi suddenly had a bad feeling.
Miss Xia Ling’s words still echoed in his mind. ’This Miss Bai isn’t actually thinking of playing some kind of house game, is she?’
After their polite handshake, Bai Qimeng invited Wang Xi to sit on the sofa across from her.
"Come on, Xin’Er, sit here with me."
Bai Qimeng patted the sofa cushion beside her, the sound sharp in the quiet room, as she smiled at Lin Xin’Er.
The girl in the pink pajamas stiffened.
She clenched her fists, her eyes downcast, not moving a muscle.
Wang Xi glanced between the two of them with a strange expression.
"Be good, come on over." Bai Qimeng stood up, pulled Lin Xin’Er down onto the sofa, then leaned in and whispered in her ear, "Behave, and I’ll buy you a Body Technique Green Card tomorrow."
"..."
Lin Xin’Er just bit her lip, remaining silent.
Bai Qimeng chuckled, then turned her head to face Wang Xi and continued their earlier conversation.
"Here’s the deal. I’ve always wanted a cat, but I can’t find any on the market that I like, so I plan to look for one in a Maze... But, well, it’s not too safe for just me and Xin’Er to go in, so I wanted to recruit a capable person to join us."
"???"
Hearing this, Wang Xi’s face was a mask of confusion.
’Seriously? There’s nothing wrong with wanting a cat, but why a Maze of all places?’
’Do the rich daughters of conglomerates just think differently from normal people?’
This is ridiculous...
"Miss Bai, forgive my bluntness, but you’re playing with your own life."
Wang Xi said calmly.
"That’s why I came to you, my friend."
Bai Qimeng said with a dismissive, mischievous chuckle.
"With the second and third-ranked Professional Warriors of this year’s Valley City cohort accompanying me, what do I have to fear?"
"Besides," she raised her hand in front of Wang Xi, opened her five fingers, then slowly clenched them into a fist, her knuckles cracking loudly. "you shouldn’t underestimate the strength of the new era’s last Knight!"
"..."
Wang Xi was silent.
Of course, he wouldn’t underestimate Bai Qimeng.
After all, she was a Four-Star Hero. If it came to a real fight, besides Wang Xi himself, probably no one else among this year’s Professional Warriors would be her match.
Moreover, as the daughter of a conglomerate, Bai Qimeng certainly wouldn’t be lacking trump cards... If nothing else, surviving a typical emergency wouldn’t be a problem for her.
"May I ask why you insist on finding a cat in a Maze, Miss Bai?"
Wang Xi asked the handsome woman.
"I’m not interested in ordinary cats," Bai Qimeng chuckled. "What I want is a Follower Cat."
"A Follower Cat?"
"Yes, a Follower-type Universal Card."
Bai Qimeng nodded.
"In the Maze Card Pool designated Black Spade A, ’Boot Cat,’ you can get specific cat-type Follower Cards."
"But with your background and resources, Miss Bai, it shouldn’t be difficult to just buy a Follower Card like that, right?"
Wang Xi asked.
"It’s not difficult, true." Bai Qimeng shrugged. "But I want a brand-new, original Card, a Follower Cat that I pull myself and summon myself... The first person it sees when it opens its eyes must be me."
Alright then.
Wang Xi figured he understood now.
This Miss Bai didn’t just have a bad case of eighth-grader syndrome; she was also a serious purist.
"One last question," Wang Xi asked. "Why me, specifically?"
"Miss Bai, I’m just a ’Professional Four Stars’ Hero who just passed the assessment. There are plenty of people in Valley City who are stronger than me."
"Tsk, can you stop being so modest!"
Bai Qimeng rolled her eyes, fiddling with her slender fingers as she listed off the details as if they were family heirlooms:
"According to the data released by the Hero Association, there are only 102 active Four-Star Professional Warriors registered in Valley City this year. There aren’t that many who are stronger than you."
"And besides—" the woman flipped back her blue-violet bangs with the back of her hand and said admiringly, "Pretty faces are a dime a dozen, but an interesting soul is one in a million. And you, my friend, have both."
"Tell me, where else am I supposed to find a teammate as suitable as you?"
"Thank you for the compliment, Miss Bai."
Wang Xi shook his head, unmoved.
’This whole thing still feels sketchy.’
"But I’m not that shallow of a person..."
"Five million," Bai Qimeng said flatly, holding up five fingers. "I’ll place another order with Cupid Housekeeping and specifically request you to complete it. The commission for this job will ultimately fall to you."
Five million!
Heh...
’Is this the power of capital?’
Wang Xi considered his integrity to be on par with Tao Yuanming’s; his incorruptible righteousness was a rarity seen only once in several millennia. While he wouldn’t say there would be none like him after, he was at least without precedent. And that’s not even mentioning the various legends of his prestige circulating in the Otherworld.
But from the moment he passed the Professional Warrior assessment, he had been suppressed by the three major conglomerates. They wouldn’t even let him show his face on a promotional poster and even tried to force him to sign a slavish contract. He had endured humiliation and hardship, biding his time, and finally became a Senior Deacon through his own effort and sweat.
He never expected, however, that the oppression from the conglomerates was far from over. Before he had even reported to the company, this conglomerate heiress, Bai Qimeng, already had her eyes on him. She set a trap using a high-priced custom commission, tricked him into a live-streamed matchmaking session, and made him tearfully swallow a twenty-thousand-dollar meal.
As the saying goes, it’s easy to go from frugal to lavish, but hard to go from lavish to frugal. This would surely make it impossible for him to ever face fast food again.
And now, she was trying to lure him into a Maze with five million.
’Capitalism, you’ve won!’
’The last man of iron will in this new era has fallen!’
"Alright."
Wang Xi sat up straight.
"When do we leave?"
...
...
Bai Qimeng seemed to have prepared for this.
She had predicted that Wang Xi wouldn’t refuse.
And so, room 2103, right next to her luxury suite 2102, was the residence prepared for him.
According to their agreement, Bai Qimeng would first issue a specific commission to Cupid Housekeeping as a high-level VIP, and then Miss Xia Ling would assign the commission to Wang Xi.
They would only set off officially after the commission was in full effect.
As for why she didn’t just give the five million directly to Wang Xi as payment and cut out the middleman...
Things weren’t that simple.
The new era was different from the old one; reputation was extremely important.
This method ensured Wang Xi didn’t violate any rules, maintained his professional reputation, and even added to his record within the Hero Association through Cupid Housekeeping’s performance.
It would be beneficial for his future promotion assessments.
To put it bluntly,
this could even determine whether Wang Xi’s future involved earning an honest living, being a kept man, or feasting on shark fin soup with rice.
Of course, the most important reason was that this conglomerate heiress, Bai Qimeng, wasn’t as flippant as she appeared on the surface. On the contrary, she was quite a stickler for the rules.
Wang Xi secretly speculated that Bai Qimeng might be trying to raise her VIP level through repeated high-value custom commissions, and in doing so, establish a close business relationship between the Shanshan Conglomerate and Cupid Housekeeping.
At the same time, it also transferred the risk and responsibility.
After all, no one could guarantee that there wouldn’t be casualties during a Maze exploration. If an accident were to happen, the Cupid Household Service Company would have to bear most of the liability.
’She’s a smart woman.’
That was Wang Xi’s assessment.
The night was deep.
He took a shower and lay down on the soft, comfortable, luxurious bed, letting out a long breath.
A perfectly temperate breeze from the ventilation system blew over him. Through the glass curtain wall, he could admire the beautiful night view of Valley City from the best possible angle.
Wang Xi closed his eyes.
He tried to observe the situation in the Otherworld.
His projection remained in the great hall of the Ice Crystal Castle, solitary, like an ice sculpture. The Ice and Snow Queen, Isabella, naturally wouldn’t be staring at him the whole time; she had gone off somewhere.
’It’s still early...’
Wang Xi thought to himself.
He then turned his attention to Kaos’s progress in anchoring the second Otherworld.
[Anchoring World: Profound Mystery]
[Current Progress: 2% (Estimated Time: 978 hours, 30 minutes)]
’Still a long way to go here, too.’
Withdrawing his thoughts, Wang Xi cleared his mind.
Before he knew it, he had fallen asleep.
...
...
The next morning.
Around 7:45 a.m.
Wang Xi’s internal clock woke him up.
After quickly washing up, he sat on the sofa and checked his phone.
Opening his chat app, he found that he had already been added to the "Cupid Housekeeping - Odd Jobs Department" work group.
However, it was very quiet inside. Almost no one was making small talk. Apart from the commission lists that the group owner, Miss Xia Ling, posted every so often, there were only replies from the Deacon members with commission numbers, indicating they had accepted a job.
According to the group announcement, after accepting a commission, members did not need to report its completion status in the group, regardless of the outcome; they were to message Miss Xia Ling directly.
This also served to protect the privacy of both the clients and the Deacons.
Wang Xi completely understood.
After all, nobody wanted others to know—especially not their colleagues—what kind of ridiculous things they had done with a client the day before.
BEEP—
Just then, Miss Xia Ling @’d Wang Xi in the group, along with the message: "Senior Deacon Wang Xi, you’ve received a custom service request (5 million) from high-level VIP Young Master Bai."
Attached was a confidential file that only Wang Xi had permission to view.
Instantly, the previously dead-silent group exploded into a flurry of activity over the commission information Miss Xia Ling had just posted.
"?"
"??"
"Five million?!"
"It’s been a while since we’ve seen a commission from Young Master Bai. As generous as ever..."
"Amazing, bro. You really are the dark horse of this year’s Professional Warrior assessment, landing a huge custom order right off the bat."
"Huh? When did a new person join?"
"Holy crap! ’Six Gods’ Wang Xi?!"
"Welcome, big shot! My status in this group just dropped by one. (crying)"
"The Odd Jobs Department has another Senior Deacon."
Wang Xi noticed that almost all the group members who spoke had the "Deacon" prefix, with only one "Senior Deacon" named Yue Ming piping up.
This person only sent a "Welcome" before going back to lurking.
Wang Xi thought to himself, ’Looks like the Senior Deacons in the Odd Jobs Department are all pretty aloof...’ He then sent a single, polite reply to all his colleagues’ welcomes, saying he had to get busy with his commission and would chat later when he was free.
He opened the confidential file and gave it a quick look.
The commission details were basically the same as what Bai Qimeng had said: accompany her into the Maze designated Black Spade A, ’Boot Cat,’ and help the employer obtain a specific Follower Card.
But due to the uncertainty of the Maze Card Pool, Miss Xia Ling had, on behalf of Cupid Housekeeping, added some more detailed clauses and disclaimers.
The gist was: if your own bad luck prevents you from getting the requested Card, don’t blame the Deacon or the company.
Wang Xi sighed internally. ’So professional.’
A little after eight.
He tidied up his appearance in the bathroom, said "Today is another day full of hope" to the handsome guy in the mirror, then left his suite and knocked on the door next door.
Lin Xin’Er answered the door.
She was already fully dressed and ready.
Her long black hair was tied up in a crisp, high ponytail. She wore a tight-fitting, blue-black combat suit, with a short jacket and wide-legged pants over it.
"Good morning, Miss Lin."
Wang Xi greeted her politely.
Lin Xin’Er, however, just grunted in acknowledgment, gave a nod, and turned to walk back inside.
Wang Xi didn’t mind and followed her in.
When he reached the living room area, he saw Bai Qimeng sprawled inelegantly on the sofa, chuckling as she stared at her phone.
"What are you looking at that’s so funny, Miss Bai?"
"A web novel," Bai Qimeng said. "This one, *I Became the King of Antagonists in the Game*, is kind of interesting..."
She turned off the screen, rolled over, and sat up, smiling.
"If you’re ready, let’s head out."