A gambler who can repair furniture.

 

This time, Lu Mingze’s wristband could see the tasks: Tasks One through Six, with Task One’s progress at 0.1/1, and Task Two likewise.

It turned out that simply accepting a task would give 0.1 progress, so once all six tasks were completed, everyone could restore their memories.

If it was just about finding gold or dealing with the bandits, these shouldn’t be very difficult tasks, right?

Cao Qian, upon hearing the tasks laid out by the armour, pressed her knuckles and calmly said, “I think the bandits can be left to me.”

After speaking, she tested a kick, producing a terrifying rush-of-wind sound. If that kick landed on a person, it would probably be lethal.

Lu Mingze wasn’t afraid; on the contrary, he felt extremely safe. Cao Qian was truly a powerful woman. Having a teammate like her was such a blessing.

“All the offices on the fourth floor are like me,” the armour continued answering Cao Qian’s earlier question, “Every night, the spiritual items in the City Lord’s Mansion turn into monsters, performing the actions they did while alive. Once you enter the fourth-floor office, everything will seem calm and normal, but when you’re not paying attention, the desk will want your bones for its legs, chairs will want your spine for the backrest, the sofa will want a new human skin covering, and even the wall clocks want a human tongue to mark the hours.”

“So terrifying?” Lu Mingze exclaimed, startled. “It seems that you really are a good person. Your magical aura passively shortens human lifespans, but their actions are active.”

“Is—is that so?” The complimented armour sounded a bit happy, “Actually, it’s also your luck. If you hadn’t paused on the third floor to watch the sunset, during dusk—the time the monsters awaken—you’d have been in the office. That would have been disastrous. I only spoke up to compete with the fourth-floor monsters over humans, so I warned you.”

“Compete over humans?” Lu Mingze laughed. “So you’ve always been protecting people who mistakenly enter the City Lord’s Mansion in your own way. Without your control over their bodies, these people might have already been dismantled by the monsters. If it were me, I’d rather shorten my lifespan than become parts of a desk, chair, or clock.”

“Huh?” The armour was given a noble mission it hadn’t thought of for itself. “Am I really that good? How come I didn’t know?”

Cao Qian silently listened to the two of them talking. After Lu Mingze spoke, she reached out, picked up the armour, and, like kneading clay, reshaped the iron plates back into armour. She didn’t quite remember what the armour originally looked like, but fortunately, Lu Mingze did. He gave her pointers, and after about half an hour, the armour had returned to its original form.

“Your strength is amazing,” Lu Mingze said in admiration.

Armour: “……”

Is it really a matter of strength? Why does the prince always imagine things so beautifully?

“Well, let’s go upstairs. I’ll remember our promise,” Lu Mingze patted his chest. “We must capture the bandits who harm the residents and hand them over to you, the city’s guardian, for punishment.”

After agreeing, Lu Mingze and Cao Qian went upstairs together.

Left at the third-floor corner, the armour was deeply puzzled. Am I the city’s guardian? Am I?

I am.

The armour happily “clatter-clatter” laughed, the sound of metal parts colliding sounding especially eerie in the night.

But Lu Mingze and the others upstairs were not afraid, because they knew this was the armour warning people that the City Lord’s Mansion at night was dangerous, and they shouldn’t enter lightly.

Cao Qian wasn’t afraid either, because she knew the armour couldn’t defeat her.

The two of them ascended the stairs like a pair of geese, and the dusty map was spread out on the desk. The floor was a mess, books, parchment rolls, and office supplies were scattered and trampled.

“According to the armour, only the door, desk, chairs, bookshelves, and clocks have ‘living’ properties,” Cao Qian touched the wall. “Why only these items?”

As soon as they entered, the door shut. The armour had said this door would lock people inside, making it hard to escape. But Cao Qian wasn’t afraid; she could slip through the walls.

Lu Mingze looked at the dust and bloodstains on the walls; there were also stains on the door, but none on the chairs or desks. So it wasn’t because of blood?

He carefully recalled what the armour had said and placed his fingers on the desk.

“Careful!” Cao Qian warned. “The desk will hurt you.”

“No,” Lu Mingze squatted and said, “the desk’s leg is broken, and this corner is propped up with a small stone.”

The armour had told them that kerosene lamps were hung in the corridor for lighting. Cao Qian used fire-starting by friction with the wooden stairs to light the lamp.

Lu Mingze held the lamp and saw a small gap at the corner of the desk.

“Also, the chair’s backrest is about to break,” Lu Mingze said.

He then stood on tiptoe to check the clock, his face covered in dust, and said, “This clock can no longer chime the hour.”

“The sofa’s leather is peeling off too,” Cao Qian followed Lu Mingze’s line of inspection to check the items.

“Do you want someone to repair you?” Lu Mingze asked. “If you’re broken, you can’t keep working, and you’ll be eliminated, so you need repairs?”

With a creak, the old wooden door, which had been tightly shut, opened.

“It’s not broken,” Cao Qian said after checking.

“I guess once I figure out that other items have problems, it opened the door to let us find tools to repair them,” Lu Mingze lightly touched the door frame.

The wooden door creaked again, as if responding to Lu Mingze.

Lu Mingze said, “This really is a management and construction-type game—the focus is repairing items and rebuilding the home!”

Cao Qian: “……”

She felt that the game in her eyes wasn’t quite the same as the game in Lu Mingze’s eyes. This place was clearly filled with evil energy; the whole room was eerie, as if it could eat people.

Only Lu Mingze, standing in front of the clock holding the kerosene lamp, shone like a little sun, illuminating the entire room.

“What should we do?” Lu Mingze fretted. “I should repair the office furniture, but I don’t know how.”

Cao Qian wasn’t skilled at this either; she was better at destruction. She asked Linlin, “Can you do it?”

The Swan Crystal played dead, saying nothing.

At that moment, Lu Mingze’s wristband began heating up again; the band engraved with the name “Guan Lin” lit up.

The “Guan Lin” wristband had only one horizontal line, representing that teammate Guan Lin had only one chance to enter this world, and could exist for just one day.

Without hesitation, Lu Mingze tapped the wristband and called for teammate Guan Lin’s help.

A plain, middle-aged man appeared in the room. He saw Cao Qian and Lu Mingze and was startled, breaking out in a cold sweat.

“Who are you?” Guan Lin asked cautiously, staring at the two of them.

“We’re here to ask for your help,” Cao Qian said without wasting time on pleasantries. “Can you repair furniture?”

“I can, sure—after all, it’s a basic skill for a man running a household. But… who are you? Am I dreaming?” Guan Lin grabbed his hair.

“Stop talking nonsense, find the tools and start repairing!” Cao Qian punched the wall, instantly leaving a hole.

“I’ll repair it!” Guan Lin immediately raised both hands, not resisting, completely yielding to her strength.

Following the directions from the door and wall, they found a small storeroom filled with tools and parts. Guan Lin picked up a hammer and began working.

Though full of questions in his mind, Cao Qian’s strength was so intimidating that Guan Lin dared not ask. He had a constant feeling that the desks and chairs might try to swallow him, but dared not speak.

Lu Mingze squatted beside him, holding the kerosene lamp and spoke: “Big brother, why did you come here? Where did you find the QR code?”

Seeing him look soft and harmless, his black eyes like a little animal, and comparing him to the dark-faced beautiful girl beside him, he seemed like a little angel. Guan Lin relaxed and said, “It’s strange… I was looking at a barbecue recipe, when a QR code suddenly appeared on it. I scanned it casually, thinking it was a game, so I clicked in.”

Lu Mingze: “……”

Everyone entering the game seemed so casual; not a single person suspected it might be a phone virus or trojan horse.

Lu Mingze was such a good conversationalist that Guan Lin, seeing him listen so seriously and curiously, couldn’t help opening up: “It’s strange—I don’t even know where I got this barbecue recipe. I opened a mobile stall at the night market, and it was doing very well. I remember running the stall, but the recipe was too delicious—I have no idea where I got it from.”

Hearing this, Cao Qian and Lu Mingze were shocked—it was indeed another amnesiac.

“Also, I’m a gambler. I lost everything, my wife and kids left, my parents went into debt because of me. I wanted to quit gambling before, but I couldn’t; I always thought about one big win to pay off the debts. But… in the past two months, I suddenly didn’t want to gamble anymore,” Guan Lin scratched his head. “Whenever my old gambling friends invited me, a voice in my head told me: to get your wife and children back, you must be grounded; shortcuts and speculation are always the wrong path.”

Guan Lin smiled: “Many people said these things to me before, but I never believed them. This time, I really trusted it. I stopped gambling and focused on small business. I made a plan: continue working, and in five years, pay off debts and reclaim my house. Then in another five years, expand the business. Asking my wife for forgiveness is impossible, but in ten years, my child will go to college—I can at least cover tuition and save to buy a house. It sounds hard, but having goals and a future makes it not feel tiring.”

As he spoke, Guan Lin had repaired all the furniture in the room, even patching the wall Cao Qian had smashed. Only the clock was more complicated, since such old-style clocks are rare in real life. Guan Lin frowned for a moment; his wristband lit up, and he tapped it, activating the skill “Broken Mirror Restored,” which could be used three times every 24 hours.

Using it once, the clock became brand new, standing atop the furniture chain like the newest item.

“Such an ability exists too!” Guan Lin and Lu Mingze shook hands excitedly, amazed!

Cao Qian, looking at the clock, also felt amazed, and slightly revised her opinion of Guan Lin.

After completing everything, Lu Mingze picked up the map on the desk. The furniture in the room didn’t obstruct him.

He waved at them: “Thank you all, I will work hard to rebuild the city. Soon, this City Lord’s Mansion will be renewed.”

The night wind blew in through the window, flipping the pages of a book; the rustling “sasa” sounded like a response to Lu Mingze.

 

Translator : DarNan