"Sigh, this is rough..." Chen Li sighed, fiddling with the blank business card in his hand.
Not only had he failed to complete the commission, but he was already half a Crystal in the hole.
And now he had another Miracle Commission from Sunday, who was dead set on his grand plan.
Although Miracle Commissions didn't have to be completed, it was still a hassle.
"Whatever. I'll go downstairs and order some takeout. Might as well ask if Kaguya is hungry." Giving up on thinking, Chen Li headed downstairs.
"Li-bao, want some fries?"
"Hm? Where'd you get fries?" Just as he was about to ask Kaguya if she wanted takeout, Chen Li saw her sitting in the living room, munching on fries.
"They brought them," Kaguya said, pointing to a blind spot in Chen Li's line of sight.
Chen Li turned his head and saw some familiar faces.
"Hey, isn't that... Oh, right, what was your name again?" Chen Li asked, looking at the young man of the pair at the door.
The Shield Warrior whose Relic Chen Li had won yesterday had come knocking!
"My name is Kang Feng. Big Brother Chen, this is my dad." The Shield Warrior tensed up when Chen Li noticed him and quickly introduced the middle-aged man beside him.
"You're here to deliver fries?" Chen Li was taken aback.
"No, you misunderstand, little friend. I am Kang Feng's father, Kang Ze. We came today specifically to offer our apologies. However, before we even reached the door, this young lady said we couldn't enter without fries, so we had to go buy some first," said a burly, weather-beaten middle-aged man in a deep voice.
"..." Chen Li turned his head to look at Kaguya.
"So, you want some fries?" Kaguya asked, tilting her head.
---o---
"Hello. He's not home. Yes, you can. Goodbye." After expertly accepting the gift, Chen Li answered the questions they hadn't even asked with even greater expertise, and then saw them out.
"You're like an unfeeling gift-receiving robot. You don't even let people finish talking," Kaguya commented from the side, her eyes wide with amazement.
"If you received apology gifts every day, you'd become unfeeling too," Chen Li said with a deadpan expression.
It was like when you play a game. After completing a quest and going to an NPC to claim the extra reward, do you really listen to everything they have to say?
Towards the stars and the abyss...
Thank you for completing...
After claiming the reward, Chen Li wouldn't listen to another word.
Since they were the ones who had started the trouble and were in the wrong, being a little cold was perfectly normal.
"Are you sure you don't want to hear what they have to say? What if they have some new and interesting questions?"
"Impossible. The first question will definitely be 'Is your esteemed father home?' and the second will be 'My child was being foolish, I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive him.'" Chen Li shook his head with absolute certainty.
"How about we call him back and let him ask? If you're wrong, you owe me dinner tonight."
"...Maybe next time. Let's wait until I've accumulated some Merit," Chen Li said.
He suddenly knew how to use the "Approbation of Sublime Morality."
Kicking someone out and then immediately calling them back just to have them repeat their questions was somewhat immoral. This was a perfect time to use a Merit coin.
"Accumulating Merit? Oh, I get it. Once you've saved up enough Merit, you can do bad things with a clear conscience, right?"
"Tsk. I really want to punch you right now, but you're not wrong," Chen Li said, annoyed.
"Quick, let me see the gift!" Kaguya looked at the box in Chen Li's hand with curiosity.
"Let's see... Yo, it's actually a Relic?" Chen Li felt a pleasant surprise as he looked at the silver box nestled inside the gift box.
This was why he hadn't gone for the kill against the Shield Warrior.
If you kill the kid, how are you supposed to collect apology gifts from his parents?
"What Relic?"
"[Sobering Pointer]"
"That sounds so cool! What does it do?" Kaguya was instantly excited.
"It makes one random person within a hundred-meter radius suffer from insomnia."
"???" Kaguya immediately distanced herself from Chen Li.
What a vicious Relic.
And completely useless!
"Well, you can't say it's completely useless. If you're hit with a sleeping spell or some weird knockout drug, you could run to a place where there's no one within a hundred meters and use it on yourself," Chen Li said, seeming to read her mind.
"Can you use it to forge a Curio?"
"Actually... I can. I have an idea right now, but it's a little unscrupulous."
"???"
---o---
In the end, they never ordered takeout. Chen Li and Kaguya ate fries until they were stuffed.
Kang Feng's father, who had come to apologize, was just too earnest. When Kaguya told him to get "some" fries, the man went and bought out the entire restaurant's stock, then used a special method to keep them warm, ensuring their texture and temperature remained perfect.
At the very least, you can't serve people cold fries and warm coke; if they got angry, it would be perfectly justified.
And these fries were more than enough to make it impossible for Chen Li and Kaguya to eat another bite.
"No, I can still eat. I don't want any more fries, I want dinner," Kaguya said, clutching her stomach.
"Alright, alright... we'll order takeout later. We'll just call it a late-night snack," Chen Li nodded lazily.
Fries are good, but one shouldn't overindulge.
---o---
As evening approached, Kaguya heard a noise and put down the controller connected to the living room's big screen. She saw Chen Li looking with pleasant surprise at a slightly older man and woman who had just arrived.
"Young Master, we're back," the gentle-looking woman of the pair said softly.
"Yo, I didn't know you had a maid, Chen Li. She's quite pretty. The one next to her must be the butler," Kaguya said, tossing the controller aside and propping her chin on her hands as she lay on the sofa.
As expected of a wealthy family. Even the maid is almost as beautiful as I am.
However, the intrigued Kaguya failed to notice the dark expression on Chen Li's face.
"My, it's the first time I've seen you bring a girl home, Young Master," the gentle woman exclaimed, covering her mouth.
"You..." Chen Li started to speak.
"Miss, you must treat the Young Master well from now on. He hasn't smiled at a girl in a very long time. The last time I saw the Young Master smile... was the last time he smiled," the stern, sharp-looking man immediately added, addressing Kaguya.
"Oh, really?" Kaguya replied, her interest piqued.
Chen Li, standing nearby, was so exasperated he started to laugh.
"Look, the Young Master is smiling again."
"But I don't think he looks very happy," Kaguya said, rubbing her chin.
"That's enough, you two. Every time I bring someone home, you pull this stunt. I can understand doing it with girls, but why do you say the same thing to boys, and even to things that aren't human?" After the two entered, Chen Li slammed the door shut.
"Looks like your family's butler and maid are really desperate for you to find a girlfriend, Li-bao," Kaguya said with a laugh.
"This is my dad. And this is my mom," Chen Li said irritably, pointing at the pair.
"Huh?" Kaguya's mouth slowly fell open.
"Ahem, Miss, don't listen to the Young Master's nonsense. He's just joking," the gentle woman said with a dry cough, trying to salvage her image.
"It's 'Young Master,' is it? Go make me dinner," Chen Li said, pointing to the kitchen.
"Yes, Young Master."
"Hey, playing is one thing, but don't make your mother cook dinner!" the man beside her instantly lost his composure.
"You want to role-play but don't even have that much dedication?" Chen Li spread his hands.
He didn't care. He could eat plain noodles boiled in water; what was a little disastrous cooking to him?
"Chen Shi, what do you mean by that? What's wrong with my cooking?" Chen Li's mother dropped her gentle facade and glared at his father, clearly displeased.
"What I mean is, how could I let you cook? What if you tire yourself out? I'll do it! Let me! I'll fight anyone who dares to tire you out!" Chen Shi slapped the shoe cabinet and marched straight into the kitchen.
Meanwhile, Chen Li's mother eagerly sidled up to Kaguya. How old are you, dear? How did you meet my son? How long have you known each other? Do you like boys or girls? How long are you planning to stay here?
The questions came one after another, making Kaguya's head spin.
The key thing was, she was living in Chen Li's house, so it would be rude not to answer.
Even though Kaguya kept signaling Chen Li for help, she could only see him watching the drama unfold with a relaxed and even slightly amused expression, with no intention of rescuing her.
This situation only showed signs of stopping when Chen Li's father began to serve a table full of delicious, fragrant dishes.
"Oh, right. Kaguya, you're not from this world, are you?" The final question from Chen Li's mother, who was sitting at the head of the table, instantly snapped Kaguya to attention.
"Hm?"
Kaguya was shocked that she could tell she was from another world.
When she had introduced herself earlier, she had only said the name "Kaguya" and had not mentioned anything about other worlds.
It wasn't to brag, but Kaguya believed that as long as she changed out of her overly iconic clothes, it was easy for her to pass as an ordinary person in other worlds.
One reason was that "Touhou" was no longer popular; the other was her firm belief that no fan artist could capture even a tenth of her true beauty.
"Hm? Is it that strange? Oh, I haven't introduced myself, have I? My name is Li Changxi, and I'm a Folklorist," Chen Li's mother said to Kaguya with a smile.
"A F-Folklorist?" Kaguya instantly looked at Chen Li, who was sitting beside her.
"Yeah. The kind of Folklorist you're thinking of," Chen Li nodded.
"I'm a law-abiding citizen!" Kaguya immediately shot her hands up.
Folklorist was a codename. It referred to the hunters among the Investigators who were specifically responsible for cleaning up races from other worlds. They seemed to have some method for hunting and finding transmigrators.
"Alright, Mom, stop scaring her," Chen Li said casually.
"Phew, so you were just kidding."
"She's a Legendary Folklorist."
"..." Kaguya was starting to lose her composure.
As she thought, this world was incredibly dangerous!
"And my dad is a Legendary Archaeologist, so you might as well just confess," Chen Li added from the side.
"???"
Archaeologist was also a codename. It referred to the cleaners among the Investigators who specialized in traveling to the past through special methods, uncovering truths shrouded in the mists of time, and cleaning up foreign objects from the timeline. They were particularly adept at hunting those with time-based abilities.
Kaguya really couldn't hold it together anymore.
She was both a transmigrator and a time-based ability user.
"Alright, we'll stop scaring you. If you were truly marked as prey by the world, we would have received a notification long ago. The fact that you've raised your Profession Level to Tier 2 or higher means you've been living an honest life and have integrated into this world. Naturally, there's no need to hunt you," Li Changxi said with a smile.
"Indeed," Chen Shi nodded.
"Your family is truly something else. A hunter and a cleaner gave birth to a transmigrator," Kaguya finally said after recovering.
"Well, perhaps it's because both of our professions are so specialized that Little Li was naturally blessed with his. His spatial talent comes from me, and his temporal talent comes from his father. As for his fate talent... that must be from the mockery of fate itself," Li Changxi said with a sigh.
"But Little Li, I have good news for you. Want to guess what it is?" Li Changxi immediately turned to Chen Li, her face full of excitement.
"Mom, I have good news for you too. Want to guess what it is?"
"The good news is that both your father's and my personal panel levels have increased. Once we reach level five, we'll be able to exercise Over-Rank Guardianship and seal your abilities," Li Changxi said gleefully.
"???"
"So, my dear son, what's the good news you have for me?"
"I also found a way to seal my transmigrator abilities, and even make them controllable."
"???" — by Li Changxi.
My dear, precious son, are you listening to the words coming out of your own mouth?
"..." Chen Li was speechless.
He was increasingly convinced that [Mockery of Fate] was his true talent.
If the world were a giant game, Chen Li would absolutely suspect the system was 'warehouse-inspecting' him 24/7—detecting what he needed and deliberately withholding it.