Novel All Day
Chapter 77 Two Tasks
He slept soundly until daylight.
When Yan Junze woke up, Zhang Xiaomo was taking out the trash.
After coming back, she said to Yan Junze, "The girl on the second floor isn't going to work today, so keep your voice down, the sound insulation here is not good."
"How do you know the sound insulation is bad?" Yan Junze got out of bed, not noticing that Zhang Xiaomo's face was slightly flushed.
Anyway, he felt that he had been sleeping well these past two days, probably because he had an exorcist by his side, so he didn't need to be constantly on edge. Plus, this was already the third day, and it seemed like Resentful Granny truly didn't dare to show up.
"I'm making potato noodles, do you want some?" Zhang Xiaomo asked.
"A bowl for me, thanks!" Yan Junze often had the illusion that Zhang Xiaomo could have been a high-level nanny if it weren't for her exorcism career.
After getting up and going to the other room to wash up, Zhang Xiaomo was beside him, cooking the noodles and adding seasonings.
After putting the noodles into the boiling soup, Zhang Xiaomo said, "I've been observing for the past two days, and there's a strangeness in the unoccupied building at the end of the street, fourth from the last. It's best not to walk by there if it's not necessary."
While washing his face, Yan Junze paused for a second, having forgotten that this was a remote suburban area at the edge of the city, where strange events were no rarity.
However, it seemed that these strange events shouldn't have a big impact on the area, otherwise they would also be lining up for processing by the exorcists.
Still curious, Yan Junze dried his face towel while opening the "Perception of Strange Events."
Currently, he felt his progress in unlocking the Spacetime Atlas was still insufficient, the atlas only revealing the tip of the iceberg. It was evident that many nodes and timelines remained unopened.
As for skills, for the time being, he had only mastered "Perception of Strange Events" and "Evil Spirit Solid Lock." He could guess that there must be many more skills yet to be unlocked in the unlit parts of the atlas.
Therefore, if time and conditions permitted, Yan Junze was interested in completing more temporary tasks to accumulate more Different Dimension Energy and light up the nodes of the atlas.
Just as "Perception of Strange Events" was activated, a text message immediately flashed in his mind.
"[Detecting Different Dimension Energy and dimensional cross-wave bands, analyzing...]"
"[Coordinates confirmed: Rock Old Street No. 39.]"
"[Mission name: The Hanged Woman;"
"Mission level: Anxiety-Inducing (Medium);"
"Mission background: After Ye Zhennan's six-year-old son drowned in the Rock Reservoir, the couple fell into endless grief. Her husband later developed the bad habit of alcohol abuse, beating Ye Zhennan every time he drank. Ye Zhennan clearly remembered that on the day she hung herself, it had been the 79th time her husband had beaten her. She could bear it no longer and decided to join her son."
"Mission instructions: She still sways under the beam in the house, feeling a sore and painful neck, please loosen it for her;"
"Mission rewards: 300 points of Different Dimension Energy;"
"Mission penalties: Unknown;"
"Mission tips: 1. The spirit can be locked down; 2. There are branch missions waiting to be triggered;"
"Note: You know, the appearance after hanging is terrifying."]
Yan Junze carefully reviewed the mission information in his mind and found that the level of this mission, "Anxiety-Inducing (Medium)," matched the level of "The Old Woman Knocking at Mid-Night."
And coincidentally, it also had branch missions waiting to be triggered.
Of course, he couldn't go out to complete missions in his current state; as soon as he entered No. 39 on Old Street, he probably wouldn't even see Ye Zhennan before Resentful Granny, appearing out of nowhere, finished him off.
He pondered that if Zhang Xiaomo could take care of Resentful Granny within these seven days, maybe afterwards he could boldly and confidently go complete "The Hanged Woman" mission.
After making up his mind, a string of text suddenly jumped into his consciousness.
It was the second task that had been detected.
[Coordinates confirmed: No. 114 Rock Back Street, Lin Family Courtyard.]
[Task name: Drop the Handkerchief;
Task level: Trembling with Fear (Medium);
Task background: Seven children, hale and hearty, sat in the courtyard, playing merrily. Drop the handkerchief, drop the handkerchief, quietly drop it behind the child, don't tell him, hurry and catch him, hurry and catch him...
Task description: The Lin Family Courtyard suffered a fire seven years ago, and not one of the seven children playing in the yard managed to escape. No, wait, one did run away. The remaining six children are puzzled, did he really escape or not? They want an answer.
Task reward: 600 Dimensional Energy points;
Task penalty: In Dire Straits;
Task tip: 1. The evil spirit thrives in a group and cannot be locked down; 2. There are other "treasures" to be explored inside the Lin Family Courtyard;
Note: Do you still remember this game? If not, better brush up on it quickly.]
Having only opened [Perception of Strange Events] for a moment, Yan Junze had received two tasks, with the rewards in Dimensional Energy points being quite substantial. Now, it depended on whether he had the time and opportunity to complete them.
"Why are you standing there zoning out after washing your face?" Zhang Xiaomo had already cooked the sweet potato noodles and was serving herself a bowl.
They did smell pretty good, though.
Yan Junze put down the towel, smiled, and also served himself a bowl.
"By the way," Zhang Xiaomo said, "there seems to be something wrong with the street behind us, and the strange phenomena are even more severe than what I just told you. However, it should have been reported to the Exorcist Squad by now. Someone specialized should come to deal with it."
Yan Junze nodded, gaining a new appreciation for Zhang Xiaomo.
This three-star exorcist could describe the two tasks he had detected almost perfectly just by relying on her naked eye and instinctive perception. She was really not on the same level as someone like Huang Chen, who was a mere dabbler.
Why won't Resentful Granny show up! Hurry up and let Zhang Xiaomo take care of her, so that he could shake off his worries and go complete the tasks!
Just then, light footsteps were heard, and the female tenant from the lovey-dovey couple upstairs quickly descended from the second floor, turning towards the building next door after reaching the base of the stairs.
However, she came back after a short while. Wearing cartoon pajamas and a pair of white canvas shoes, she stood at the front door of the outer room where Yan Junze was and asked, "Excuse me, have you seen the landlord today?"n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om
Yan Junze shook his head: "Isn't he next door?"
"I knocked, but there was no answer," the woman said with a shrug. "By the way, my name is Su Muyao. How do I address you?"
Just hearing that name, it sounded like that of a typical female protagonist. Yan Junze looked up to take a closer look at Su Muyao; she was rather pretty with an appearance slightly above average, and seemed to be quite petite. This was in stark contrast to Zhang Xiaomo's height of 1.7 meters.
"Yan Junze." He pointed at himself, then glanced at the woman next to him, who was slurping her sweet potato noodles, "This is Zhang Xiaomo. Um, want to have breakfast? We made sweet potato noodles."
"Thanks, I've already eaten," Su Muyao looked at Zhang Xiaomo and sensed a certain aloofness from her, silent and distant as if rejecting people thousands of miles away.
With a smile towards Yan Junze, Su Muyao turned to go back upstairs.
"Wait," Zhang Xiaomo suddenly spoke up, sitting at the doorway and looking up at her, "Isn't the landlord usually at home around this time?"
"I haven't paid attention," Su Muyao said, thinking carefully while standing on the stairs. "But it seems like I see him every day. If he isn't at home, he's usually at Old Li's place on the street corner, playing chess and chatting."