Chapter 53: Neighbors

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Ling PingAn quickly went through all the options.

He’d checked all the boxes he needed to check within five minutes.

Because he didn’t need to think too hard about any of the questions.

He simply selected the options that seemed just and moral.

As a law-abiding citizen of the Federal Empire, Ling PingAn didn’t forget about the values of the Federal Empire, even in the game.

Equality, friendship, benevolence…

After Ling PingAn had finished and submitted all the selections, another message box appeared: Dear player, you can now choose to write and edit the background story of your character in Legend of Nightmare. Or, you can let the system randomly assign a story for your character.

Ling PingAn scratched his head.

He had a strong urge to utilize his creativity.

Nevertheless…

“I haven’t come up with an idea for my new book yet!”

So he chose to let the system make up a story about him.

Instead of staying to see how the story played out, he clicked on the “exit game” button.

…

Ling PingAn raised his head and discovered himself sitting behind the counter.

He was still holding the phone in his hand.

The watch that had been stuck on the back of the phone had already come off.

He looked up and glanced at the clock on the wall.

It was already half past one.

“It’s been over two hours!” He clicked his tongue and reminisced about the wonderful feelings he’d had in the game and said, “Such an amazing game!

“I need to thank the guy who sent me the invitation code.”

He picked up his phone and logged into WeChat Read.

He found NorthernWindz and sent him a private message, “Dude, thanks a lot!”

Then he started to think about what to eat for lunch.

It actually wasn’t a hard question.

He only had three choices: beef noodle soup, rice bowl with braised beef, or rice bowl with pork ribs.

After a moment of hesitation, he picked rice bowl with pork ribs and immediately placed the order.

At this moment, he heard someone knocking on the door.

A young woman in her early 20s was standing outside of the door.

She looked shy and bashful.

Ling PingAn stepped forward, opened the door, and asked, “Hello, how can I help you?”

“Hello.” The young woman was also very polite. She bowed to Ling PingAn and said, “Sir, I’m Aunt Wang’s niece from the laundromat around the corner.”

“Oh…” Ling PingAn cracked a smile and said, “Come in, please.”

Although he had never seen her before, she was practically his neighbor since she was Aunt Wang’s niece.

As the saying goes, a neighbor close by is better than a relative far off.

The modern lifestyle in the city had destroyed the old-fashioned sense of neighborhood and community.

Many people never even said hello despite living next door to each other.

They didn’t know anything about their neighbors’ jobs, personalities, or family composition.

A faint smile was the most they would offer when meeting in the elevators.

The situation was not that bad yet for the street Ling PingAn lived on.

At the very least, he knew his neighbors’ names.

Everyone was willing to lend a hand to their best ability if anything unexpected happened.

“Thanks, but I don’t need to come in…” The young woman seemed timid and nervous as though she didn’t have much experience in interacting with people. She lowered her head and said, “My aunt asked me to come here and pick up the clothes…

“May I ask where your clothes are?”

Ling PingAn slapped his own forehead and laughed. “Look how forgetful I am.

Wait here for me.

“Two minutes. I will get the clothes for you right away.”

He turned around and hurried upstairs.

“Okay.” The young woman nodded vigorously.

She looked at the strange man climbing up the stairs.

And she remembered what the chief had said to her before she came here.

“Little An, you have worked here for six months, right?

“Is everything going well?

“The Federal Empire has an important task for you…

“Are you willing to contribute to the Federal Empire?”

Subsequently, she had been assigned to this neighborhood even though she didn’t fully understand what was going on.

Because her aunt ran a laundromat in this area.

The chief had called her directly.

As a result, she had come to this seemingly ordinary bookstore to run an errand for her aunt.

The young probationary sergeant of the Blackguard was ruminating, “How is it a federal task to pick up clothes for a laundromat?”

She didn’t understand.

This bookstore couldn’t seem more ordinary to her eyes.

Erm…

The young probationary sergeant saw a kitty lying on the counter in the bookstore.

“How beautiful!” The young woman was attracted by the cat right away.

Not many girls could resist the soft fur, wide eyes, and delicate figure of a cat.

She wanted to step in and pet the cat.

However, she stopped right as she was about to take a step forward.

Before she’d come here, the chief had warned her repeatedly that she couldn’t step into the store without a prior order, let alone touch anything in the store.

Although the young woman didn’t understand the purpose of such prohibitions, as a Blackguard, she was trained to obey orders before she’d even taken on the job.

At this point, she heard footsteps coming down the stairs.

The young man was holding a big bag of clothes.

“Thank you very much!” He politely handed her the bag and said, “I will send the money to Aunt Wang right away.”

“Okay.” The young woman nodded, picked up the bag of clothes, and bowed again as she was leaving.

Meow!

She couldn’t help but turn her head when she heard the cat.

She saw the cat jump on the ground.

Then the cat lowered its head and rubbed its cheeks against the man’s legs.

“How adorable!” The young probationary sergeant of the Blackguard felt like her heart had almost melted.

…

Holding the bag of clothes, An Xiaoxiao returned to the laundromat that her aunt operated on the next corner.

But it was not her aunt who was waiting for her in the laundromat.

It was a group of serious-looking officers from the Blackguard.

The head of the group was Lieutenant Colonel Xia Ping, the chief of the Guangnan Precinct of the Blackguard.

“Where are the clothes?” The normally reserved chief jumped on An Xiaoxiao the moment she’d returned.

“Here…” An Xiaoxiao handed him the bag she was holding.

Xia Ping took it and carefully placed it in a box made of leaden plate.

As a Lieutenant Colonel in the Blackguard, Xia Ping was a fairly high-level official in the Guangnan District. Nonetheless, he sealed the box himself, lifted it with a few coworkers, and carried it out through the backdoor of the laundromat.

A military vehicle of the Federal Empire had been waiting there for a while.

After placing the box inside the car, Xia Ping turned back to An Xiaoxiao and barked out his orders, “You can’t discuss anything that happened today with anyone else!

“And you can’t make contact with that bookstore owner without my permission or instructions.

1

“You must report to me as soon as possible if the owner of the bookstore calls you.

“This is an order!”

“Yes, sir!” An Xiaoxiao saluted and nodded solemnly.