Over here, Bai Xia had been staring at “God.” It was only after quite a while that she noticed the surroundings had changed back from a land covered in lava to the original palace.

This was also Tianzheng’s first time seeing the inside of the palace. It was his first time seeing the tall woman seated on the throne above as well, so he looked around with obvious curiosity.

Qingcheng still lounged lazily on the throne. Her expression hadn’t changed in the slightest, even after they defeated the Lava Colossus and completed the trial.

She gave the two of them a calm glance, then said to Bai Xia, “Well done. There was a large element of luck in it, but luck is also part of strength. Since you’ve completed the trial, I’ll fulfill my earlier promise.”

Before her words had even fully fallen, the woman lightly beckoned with one hand. A black sphere flew in front of Bai Xia. Before it could even touch her, it burst into countless motes of light and vanished into her body.

It looked very similar to the scene from before, when Qingcheng granted her Shura Deathbind. But after the light completely disappeared, she was still wearing that same black-and-red sailor uniform, and her status panel hadn’t changed at all.

So Bai Xia was a little lost.

“...What’s this supposed to be?”

“Naturally, it’s the inherited power of the dark elf. It will awaken automatically once you meet the requirements for your first class advancement. Then it will grant you greater power, along with the class best suited to you.”

Huh? So that means...

A hidden class?!

Qingcheng’s explanation made the girl freeze for a moment. Once she processed it, she couldn’t help but feel shocked.

In the game, once players reached level 15, they could receive a class advancement quest from the advancement mentor of their profession. That would let them obtain a more mature and specialized branch class.

For example, depending on personal preference, a warrior could choose branch classes like swordsman, saber user, or lancer based on weapon proficiency. Different development paths would affect a class’s stats, skills, and talents.

And while Bai Xia’s race was dark elf, her class was only an ordinary assassin. Qingcheng’s meaning was obvious enough. After giving her equipment, she was now throwing in a hidden class as a bonus package too.

After digesting all that, Bai Xia had to admit Qingcheng was way too generous. First equipment, then a hidden class. If the other party weren’t just an NPC in a game, Bai Xia would’ve started wondering whether she was Qingcheng’s long-lost biological daughter.

Naturally, Qingcheng on the throne had no idea what wild thoughts were running through her head. After handing Bai Xia the final reward, she looked toward Tianzheng and said softly, “And you, young man, did very well too. Even in the face of absolute danger, you still refused to give up. I acknowledge your courage. Originally, the two pieces of equipment on you were meant to be taken back after the trial was completed. But you proved yourself to me, so consider them your reward.”

“Hm? Thank you...”

Qingcheng’s words made Tianzheng pause in surprise. But since she was giving them to him, there was no reason to refuse. Though honestly, he’d never imagined from the start that Qingcheng had intended to take the equipment back.

The woman nodded, then gave a light wave of her hand. “In any case, continue to grow beneath this sky. I look forward to your future, and I think highly of it. If fate allows us to meet again, I hope you’ll still be worthy of satisfying me. Then... until we meet again.”

As her final words fell, Bai Xia didn’t even get the chance to ask anything. Her and Tianzheng’s vision was swallowed at the same time by a gentle white light.

The next moment, unlike the noisy sounds inside the palace, a different kind of clamor rang in their ears. When the white light fully faded, the two of them were already standing at the respawn point in the beginner village, surrounded by crowds of players.

Even though the server had already been open for several days, the beginner village was still bustling. After all, not every player could level as crazily fast as they had. Right now, the average player level was only around seven or eight.

Seeing that she was no longer in the palace, Bai Xia felt a little disappointed. She actually still had quite a few questions she wanted to ask Qingcheng, but who knew the woman wouldn’t give her any chance to ask at all.

But since she’d already been teleported back to the beginner village, there was nothing she could do about it. After standing there for a few seconds, she looked at Tianzheng beside her.

“Big shot... oh, no, boss, do you still have anything to do? If not, I’m logging off for today. And I probably won’t be online tomorrow either. Winter’s almost here, so I need to go stock up on supplies.”

“There shouldn’t be anything else to do in the beginner village. I do need to turn in the village chief’s quest, but I can handle that myself. Go log off and get some proper rest. Also, don’t forget to check your ‘salary’ later.”

To be honest, after that fight with the Lava Colossus, staying mentally tense for so long really had been exhausting. Even if it was just a game, moderation still mattered. So Tianzheng had no objections at all to what Bai Xia said.

“Then bye-bye.”

Once she saw he agreed, Bai Xia waved her hand and logged off on the spot. The man stood there for a while longer, then logged out as well.

—

—

After Bai Xia logged off, she was planning to take a shower, eat something, and rest.

Meanwhile, far away from Suhua, in another major Chinese metropolis, Yandu, inside an upscale villa district—

In a room kept in immaculate order, the man leaning against the bed slowly raised a hand and removed the Otherworld login device from his head, casually setting it aside.

He rubbed his temples. After sitting quietly for a while, he picked up the wireless earpiece he had tossed aside, turned it on, and put it in his ear.

As he stood up, he had already used the device to connect a call with someone else.

“Got business for me again, big boss?”

From the other side came a somewhat flippant male voice, thick with drowsiness, as if he had just woken up.

Qin Zheng pressed his lips together and directly sent over a message.

“Help me investigate someone.”

“Oh?”

The person on the other end sounded surprised. Even his sleepiness seemed to fade quite a bit.

“Don’t tell me it’s another enemy? Need your little bro here to get someone to take them out directly? Don’t worry, the price will absolutely be fair.”

“Shut up.” Qin Zheng’s brows drew together, and his voice instantly turned stern. “I only need the most basic information, so tell your people to behave themselves. Otherwise, when New Year comes around, I might only be able to visit you in prison.”

“Whoa... I was just joking, big boss. Do you really have to be that harsh? I’m telling you, at this rate you’ll never find a girlfri—”

Beep!

Before the other side could say anything more, Qin Zheng directly cut the call.

After that, he opened another category in his contact list and sent one person a message.

“Transfer twenty thousand yuan into this account.”

About thirty seconds later, the other side replied, “Done, BOSS.”

Only after seeing that reply did Qin Zheng open his messenger and enter a new contact number. After adding it successfully, he thought for a moment, then created a new category and placed the contact into it.

Looking at the new contact, he hesitated for a moment before sending over a brief message. But after waiting a few seconds, he got no reply. Apparently, the owner of that account was busy with something and hadn’t seen it.

Qin Zheng closed the page with a trace of regret. Then, noticing he was a little hungry, he made another call and had someone send over some food.

While sitting on the sofa and waiting for it to arrive, he didn’t stay idle. Instead, he opened a communication app and sent a video call request to one specially marked contact.

A full thirty seconds passed before the other side finally accepted.

But the moment the video connected, the handsome young man on the other end exploded in irritation.

“Qin Zheng, this better be something important, or I’m cutting ties with you! Do you know I was just fighting a boss with a few people? Your call scared me so badly I miscast a skill, and that monster seized the chance to claw me to death!”

To prevent players from missing important real-world messages while fully immersed in Otherworld, the game login device could be synced and linked with a personal messenger or home AI assistant. That way, if something came up in real life, the player could still receive a notification in-game and avoid all kinds of trouble from missing it.

The young man on the other side was obviously in exactly that situation. But as the culprit, Qin Zheng showed no embarrassment at all. He simply said calmly, “Relax.”

“How am I supposed to relax?!”

The young man originally wanted to keep going, but after seeing Qin Zheng’s expression, he couldn’t help sighing.

“Forget it. What do you want? If it’s not important, I’m hanging up.”

“I want to sell you a few things.”

As he spoke, the man had already sent several pictures over.

The young man on the other end looked even more confused. As he received the files, he said in puzzlement, “Sell me something? What could you possibly have to sell me—uh?”

He stopped halfway through the sentence and froze. After a brief silence, an expression of disbelief suddenly appeared on his face.

“Holy shit! These aren’t edited, are they? The game’s only been open for two or three days. Qin Zheng, how the hell did you get these?! A system exploit?”

The young man was extremely agitated. Qin Zheng, however, still looked as indifferent as ever.

“One hundred thousand. Want them?”

“What? One hundred thousand? Why don’t you just go rob someone, damn it! Qin Zheng, do I seriously look that much like an ATM to you?”

“Yes.”

The young man: “...”

The two sides fell silent for quite a while. The other man was full of anger, but under Qin Zheng’s gaze, he couldn’t really let it out. In the end, he scratched at his messy hair and said helplessly, “We’ve been friends for over ten years, and this is how you butcher me?”

“Even brothers settle accounts clearly. Besides, my price is obviously more than fair. So are you buying or not? If not, I’ll go ask Tan Yongcheng.”

Qin Zheng still wore that cold expression, making the young man on the other end grit his teeth in hatred.

“Damn it, you win! Isn’t it just one hundred thousand? That’s just the price of a bottle of wine. Pocket change. Fine, I’ll pay!”

“Then I’ll mail them to you in-game later.”

Qin Zheng nodded and was just about to end the video call when the other side hurriedly said, “Wait. I’ll add another ten thousand. You just have to tell me how you got those things!”

The corner of Qin Zheng’s lips lifted slightly. Then, without the slightest hesitation, he directly cut off the video call and, with practiced ease, added the other party to the blacklist.