Chapter 150.1: Going Out
“Combat value of 85 or above: a minimum party of seven people.”
“Combat value of 65 or above: a minimum party of fifteen people.”
“Supernatural ability of Tier 3 or above and combat value of 90 or above: may travel independently.”
“Combat value below 65: leaving the Broken River Wasteland is prohibited unless joining a group of more than 500 people and passing a combat assessment. You must also be able to recite all Moon Silk information fluently before you may travel under the name of a [Legion].”
“Supernatural ability users may join any of the above groups.”
“Starting today, nuclear crystals may be freely traded. Supernatural ability users are advised to absorb nuclear crystals and advance to the next tier on their own after obtaining them.”
Lu Song finished reading the new rules for Inner-City residents leaving the city, then looked at Qi Yi and Qi Er standing in front of him.
“So, everyone is following the new regulations now?”
Qi Yi shrugged.
“Of course. Moon Silk is much more dangerous than the worlds we visited before. In the previous worlds, you could just pack a bag and wander around on your own. On this world, this is the first time the government has strictly required everyone to form teams before going out.”
In the previous worlds, such measures had merely been “recommendations.”
Now, however, residents with combat values below 90 were directly prohibited from leaving the city unless they had properly formed a team.
Although Lu Song hadn’t left the city since Blue Sea began disguising itself as a [Company], he had seen the information on the Night Beasts and completely understood why the government had introduced such strict new regulations.
“Moon Silk doesn’t just have mutated beasts during the day. At night, you also have to hide from attacks by Night Beasts. This really isn’t a world where you can go around playing the lone-wolf hero.”
As he spoke, he looked at the brothers in confusion.
“What are you two worried about?”
“Didn’t you already raise your combat value above 90 in the previous world? No matter which way you want to travel, you can use any of the options, can’t you?”
Qi Er said, “We’re planning to travel as a pair. You know, my brother has the Replication Mask. At most, if we run into another group while we’re out there, we’ll cooperate with them for a while.”
In a world ruled by the [Companies], with a divine artifact like the Replication Mask in their possession, the two of them naturally intended to stir things up as much as possible.
Qi Yi explained, “But there are still a lot of people in the Changming Guild, and their combat values aren’t that high. Since they’re all members of the Changming Guild, quite a few of them want to rely on the guild and travel under the name of a Legion.”
Meanwhile, the guild’s president and vice president, Qi Yi and Qi Er, planned to strike out on their own.
Lu Song, who was also a vice president of the Changming Guild, was perfectly capable of accepting both solo operations and group battles, and had a very high combat value—but couldn’t leave the city himself:
“…”
“I get it. You two are already itching to get out there, so you want me to look after the guild and arrange for the members to form their own teams.”
Lu Song gritted his teeth and punched each brother once in the chest.
“Get lost!”
“Hehehehe~”
Qi Yi gave Lu Song a bear hug and openly explained why they were concerned about him.
“The guild belongs to you too. Besides, look at you, cooped up in the Inner City every single day. What if being cooped up for too long gives you some kind of problem? We’re worried about you, brother.”
Lu Song: “…”
No matter how many times it happened, he still wasn’t quite used to the blunt way Blue Sea’s people spoke.
Moreover, Lu Song knew very well that if he didn’t answer them honestly, Qi Yi and Qi Er would keep hovering around him, worrying about him.
Lu Song endured his ears burning red and cleared his throat.
“I know. Thank you. Don’t worry, I’m fine.”
Qi Er gave him a bear hug as well.
“You’re even working part-time at a kindergarten now. You really don’t look like you’re doing fine. We’re genuinely worried that something might go wrong with your mental state.”
If this had been Lu Song back when he had first joined Blue Sea, he definitely would have found that statement baffling.
It was just a part-time job at a kindergarten, looking after some children. They were talking as if he had taken a part-time job feeding dinosaurs at a dinosaur park.
But the Lu Song of today was no longer the same person.
An image flashed through his mind of a whole kindergarten full of children darting around, climbing everywhere, jumping all over the place, and flying about.
And visibly, the new generation of children was growing stronger and stronger as civilization advanced.
It manifested in the children as an increasingly exuberant vitality, as though they possessed an inexhaustible supply of energy.
And their little heads were always filled with all sorts of strange and wonderful ideas. As a teacher, you could never know what bizarre places these children might manage to cram, hang, jump, or crawl themselves into.
Qi Yi and Qi Er had once gone to the kindergarten to visit Lu Song because they were worried he might get bored. They personally witnessed what his part-time job was like.
When the two of them left that day, their footsteps had practically been floating.
Back on Green Billow, they hadn’t run even when facing sea monsters. When they saw pirates, they had only wanted to chase after them.
But when confronted with those little children, the two of them ran like their lives depended on it, practically using every ounce of strength they had.
Thinking of this, Qi Er was completely sincere.
“Seriously, Old Lu, you really should stop working at the kindergarten. You’re not a believer of our God, so you don’t have our God’s blessing. I’m afraid if you stay there too long, you’ll go crazy.”
Lu Song: “…”
“Working part-time as a kindergarten teacher really is pretty exhausting. But there’s no need to quit. I can still go occasionally. I’ll just reduce the frequency.”
The way Qi Yi and Qi Er looked at him immediately became the way one might look at a deranged alien.
Lu Song: “I’m serious!”
To be honest, he had originally applied to work at the kindergarten because it was a nursery for Blue Sea’s little ones, and under normal circumstances, only adult believers were permitted to approach it.
But Lu Song had a very high contribution score. Aside from the fact that he wasn’t actually a believer, his treatment was practically the same as that of the other believers, and he was also permitted to work as a part-time teacher under supervision.
When Lu Song had been feeling depressed about being unable to leave the city, this privilege that distinguished him from the other residents of the Outer City had actually comforted him.
—See? I may not be a believer, but you guys aren’t allowed to work part-time at the kindergarten. I am.
With that thought in mind, Lu Song had gone to apply for a position at the kindergarten.
To his surprise, his application had been approved almost instantly.
At the time, Lu Song had felt an overwhelming sense of reassurance.
—If Blue Sea didn’t regard me as one of their own, how could they approve my application so quickly?
But now, after enduring multiple rounds of kindergarten baptism, Lu Song had developed a completely different interpretation of that instant approval.
The kindergarten must have had an incredibly hard time finding part-time teachers.
Before he started working at the kindergarten, Lu Song would occasionally be sitting at home and suddenly remember that he still wasn’t a believer, which would leave him feeling depressed and anxious.
But after taking the part-time kindergarten job, all the depression and anxiety had disappeared.
All that remained was a constant state of frantic agitation.
His body would instinctively maintain a combat-ready posture at all times, so that he could effortlessly catch children who might “fly” toward him from any direction.
After several rounds of working as a part-time kindergarten teacher, his combat value had actually increased by five points.
Now, even if he were sleeping with his eyes closed, if something came flying at him from all directions, Lu Song could instantly open his eyes and catch it securely.
“I feel incredibly peaceful now. My state of mind is also exceptionally broad and open. I think everything in this world has its own reason. The world is beautiful. Being single is wonderful. And the reason I’ve never been able to become a believer must simply be because God has Her own arrangements.”
A sacred smile appeared on Lu Song’s face.
“So I’m perfectly happy staying inside the city now. You two don’t need to worry about me.”
Qi Yi: “…Bro, has he gone crazy?”
Qi Er: “The bad news is, I think he has. The good news is, I don’t think he went crazy because he can’t leave the city. I think looking after children drove him insane.”
Qi Er adopted a nostalgic expression.
“I’ve seen Mom and Dad make that exact face before. It was when the two of us were six years old and worked together to catch a python and bring it home.”
At the time, he had been gripping the python’s head with both little hands while his brother held onto the very tip of its tail. The python’s enormous body was wrapped around his neck, and he had even been thinking that the python was pretty well-behaved.
It had even known that he wanted a scarf.
Then their parents came home from work, chatting and laughing as they opened the door.
That day, for the first time in his life, his butt received a devastating beating.
Thinking about it now, Qi Er still felt like his butt hurt.
So he particularly understood why Blue Sea’s birth rate had risen slightly after the apocalypse.
Before, parents went to work during the day and looked after their children at night.
Now everyone lived in an apocalyptic world. Residents needed to go out and fight, and they were often away from home for long periods. After a child was born, the government took over their care completely.
All of Blue Sea’s teachers were believers. They had all sworn to their God that they would take good care of the children, so parents could rest completely assured.
The children would never lack affection, they would receive excellent care, and they would even have free tactical training classes. Their parents only needed to play with them whenever they returned to the city.
The teachers did have a little more pressure on them, but with large numbers of Dazzling Star people passing the combat assessments through training and joining the teaching staff, Blue Sea didn’t have to worry about running short of teachers.
Qi Yi patted Lu Song on the shoulder.
“Old Lu, if looking after children can put you into this state of complete detachment from worldly concerns, that’s fine. But watch the frequency, okay? Once a week at most.”
Qi Yi actually admired Lu Song quite a bit. Lu Song had always possessed an exceptionally strong capacity to handle pressure. No matter what happened, he could always adjust himself to the most appropriate state of mind in a short amount of time.
The special-forces training on Velvet Star really had something to it.
See? Even without the blessing of their God, Lu Song had only gone slightly crazy after becoming a part-time kindergarten teacher.
The three of them discussed for a while longer how they should arrange the guild members going forward, including whether they should divide them into teams according to their combat values.
