chapter 108

[The Instances keep changing, but the black screen is forever. A beautiful day has clearly just begun, yet through this endless night, the only things keeping me company are this black screen and my own dazed face on it.]

[I’m actually going to lose it! The Live Stream Room’s picture has been so dark all day. Good thing the Streamer redeemed a white cat Appearance-I’ve got my screen brightness cranked to max and another light on, and I can barely make out the Streamer’s ears.
Moderator! Has there been any response to the report you submitted to your higher-ups? If not, can you please add one more request-have them brighten the Streamer’s Live Stream Room a bit? Thanks, I really need this.]

[The one upstairs gives off strong “bad temper, low capability” vibes. Can’t you upgrade your setup? I bought a night-vision plugin; it boosts brightness and clarity. I rotated between three Live Stream Rooms and took over a hundred screenshots. The Streamer and Luo Jia Bai look the best with it. PM me if you want it.]

[?? That plugin’s pretty expensive. Weren’t other ghosts buying it so they could do immersive clue-hunting in exploration/adventure Instances? How are you using it like this, lololol.]

[Handle it privately. One order of Streamer, and another order of Rabbit.]

[Turn touch mode on, turn touch mode on! Let me pet him!!]

–

Lu Li noticed there was a new table in the Game Night room.

The already cramped interior felt even more crowded, the table even eating into the floor where he was supposed to sleep at night.

He knew Bosi had a mountain of documents to handle.

But if he kept adding tables like this, there’d be no floor left that belonged to Lu Li.

Where was he supposed to sleep then?

His tiny complaint evaporated when he saw what was on the tabletop.

White Flowers bloomed in a crystal-clear gray vase.

A single bud was slowly unfurling under his gaze.

“It’s still growing!” Lu Li bent down excitedly, unable to resist reaching out to touch that bunch of White Flowers.

Bosi said, “I only put in some nutrient solution.”

Making a fuss over nothing.

“The vase is pretty too.” Everywhere he looked felt magical to Lu Li; he praised sincerely, “Bosi, you’re really good at taking care of flowers.”

When he’d handed the bouquet over yesterday, it hadn’t looked like this at all. It had been wrapped in paper, tied with a pretty ribbon bow-a gift frozen in one moment.

Now it had become a living thing breathing quietly in the room.

Bosi stared at the tail swaying back and forth behind Lu Li because he was happy.

It took him a few seconds to answer. “It’s a very simple thing.”

“Because there are a lot of flowers in the Underworld?”

Lu Li had never been to the Underworld, but thanks to the fragments Bosi occasionally revealed, he was starting to yearn for the place. “When we get this vacation, can I go take a look at the Underworld? And that Palace you mentioned-the really huge Palace.”

Bosi frowned. His first instinct was to refuse, but when he met Lu Li’s hopeful eyes, his words came out stiff. “Humans can’t enter. The Underworld isn’t somewhere you can just go because you feel like it.”

There wasn’t a single flower in the Underworld.

Nothing this beautiful.

It was saturated with horror and strangeness.

Nothing worth looking at.

“You’re not qualified…” Watching that tail droop in disappointment, Bosi’s attention shifted a little; his previous certainty loosened.

“You can’t go yet. You have to be prepared to enter the Underworld. When you’re ready, we’ll see.”

Lu Li brightened again.

He liked to think he’d figured out a few tricks to understanding the way Bosi spoke.

An incomplete refusal was basically a yes.

“We’ll see” meant he could go soon!

Rounded up, that meant Bosi would take him to the Underworld!

“You’re so nice.” Lu Li smiled, making a promise in advance. He raised a hand to his lips and mimed zipping them shut. “I know living humans aren’t supposed to go to the Underworld. If you take me, I swear I won’t tell any person or ghost about it, and I won’t take random pictures and leak anything.”

Bosi: “I haven’t agreed to anything…”

“Isn’t this Nuo Nuo’s Doll?” Lu Li quickly noticed the other object on the table besides the vase. He picked the Doll up.

“It was clearly on my bed. Why is it on the table? Did you move it?”

Bosi said, “You’ve never once slept in that bed. How is it your bed?”

He pointed at the bed. “It’s mine.”

“I’m a clean freak. The pillow is clean, so I grudgingly allow you to put it on the bed. The Doll hasn’t been washed; you carried it out of an Instance, and who knows if it’s clean. It can’t go on the bed.”

Lu Li stared longingly at the Doll. “Okay.”

Since the boss’s quirks weren’t actually hurting anything, he could only try to understand them and respect them.

Bosi added, “And that Appearance you redeemed today-if it sheds, you’re cleaning it up yourself.”

“I don’t want to see a single hair in this room.”

“The Appearance doesn’t shed!” Lu Li had already reached that conclusion from kneading Luo Jia Bai earlier. The Rabbit was dozens of times bigger than he was, and he still hadn’t managed to pull out a single hair. A cat Appearance would definitely be fine.

To prove it, Lu Li first grabbed his ear and gave it a hard tug, then showed Bosi his clean hand.

Then he caught Bosi’s hand and pressed it against his own ear, locking eyes with him.

“Feel it yourself. It doesn’t shed, right?”

“It’s just an Item from the Shop. It’ll wear off after twelve hours. At the core, I’m still human.”

Bosi’s upper body stiffened.

Through the leather glove, he couldn’t clearly feel anything.

But an itch crept into his palm.

He figured some cat hair must have poked through the glove.

Lu Li felt the hand he was holding suddenly pull away as if escaping. “What’s wrong?”

Bosi said, “I have work to do. Check for hair yourself.”

“Don’t bother me.”

–

The candle on the table illuminated every word on the documents.

Bosi kept hearing Lu Li turning over.

He thought Lu Li was still awake, but when he walked over and crouched down, he realized Lu Li was just sleeping badly.

His back was pressed tightly against the wall, eyes screwed shut, his arms wrapped around himself as he slept. One hand on his chest trembled slightly, as if trying to tear off the Neck Collar.

After Bosi leaned closer, Lu Li seemed to settle into deeper sleep. Only the white tail stayed restless, flicking about until it finally swung right in front of him.

Bosi wondered, Does it really not shed?

He lowered his gaze and took off one glove.