Genius Chapter 133: One Day Fast Pass

Chapter 133: One Day Fast Pass

Translated by Karai of Exiled Rebels Scanlations

Editor: Addis

Blocking the door only took about ten seconds, but when they turned around, they saw the two big shots hugging each other on the floor.

The scene was incredibly awkward. The group couldn’t help but stare, their faces blank, though their minds were a whirlwind of shock and confusion. Despite ScarletFruit’s extensive experience on forums and his hobby of shipping couples as an amateur, he suddenly found himself questioning whether his big brother could be considered a straight man.

Su Mo reached out and helped Yu Zhen up, his gaze casually returning to the others. “What’s the matter?”

The group fell into silence, with only FireworksAndLanterns asking curiously, “How did you end up hugging each other?”

“Got hit by a skill,” Su Mo explained simply. “We fell.”

Apple wasn’t convinced. “Really?”

You fall and get up right away, don’t you? How could they still be hugging after so long?

ClearWind looked at them with a complicated expression. “You two are so calm, it makes us feel like we’re overreacting.”

ScarletFruit commented, “My insightful gaze is starting to waver.”

“Cough, cough,” Bitter Melon said.

At that moment, the blocked door was hit with two loud bangs, as if the 9th-floor bosses were desperately trying to assert their presence.

The teammates who were sitting on boxes, holding the door, or had fallen to the ground—all those near the door—quickly regained their focus, momentarily putting aside their curiosity and redirecting their attention back to the dungeon.

Some stayed to guard the door to prevent the bosses from breaking through, while others focused on the most important murals.

Su Mo moved to the central area, quickly assessing the situation, and confirmed that it matched what ScarletFruit had described.

Aside from the murals, there were only various-sized scattered boxes, and in the middle, there was a gap leading down to the vertical shaft they had originally come up from from the 1st floor. At the 9th floor, the shaft had been cut off, clearly visible to everyone.

At this moment, the murals in the tower were brightly illuminated, revealing most of the appearance of the Senro Tower.

From the 10th floor, the once-dark and shadowy Senro Tower now looked entirely different, brightly lit by the flickering candlelight.

Su Mo quickly scanned the environment and immediately shifted his focus to the murals. Following the location ScarletFruit had pointed out, he looked at the four paintings and quickly understood their meaning.

Starting from the first painting, the images depicted monstrous beings that resembled humans but were not quite human. There were faceless creatures, barrels emitting hallucinogenic smoke, ferocious beasts, torrents of floodwater, frenzied branches, emotionless assassins, and rulers surrounded by gold and treasure.

The murals in the Senro Tower, from top to bottom, formed a coherent shape. The rulers stood high above, while the lower levels were filled with disasters and calamities.

The tenth floor’s paintings connected all these elements, presenting a continuous story.

Each time they ‘prevented’ something, it was only followed by greater oppression from the higher levels.

“This painting is quite thought-provoking,” Su Mo said.

“I remember that in Chinese culture, a tower often symbolizes suppression,” another team member remarked.

“Each level suppresses the one below, offering temporary relief but not addressing the root problem,” another added.

The group fell silent for a moment as the thundering sounds continued from behind the blocked door.

“Didn’t we all reach the 10th floor?” ClearWind immediately checked the quest bar. The initial quest was still incomplete. “What’s going on? Is it because the murals haven’t lit up?”

They had examined the paintings and understood their meaning, but there were no signs of the 10th-floor paintings lighting up. This was completely different from the situations they had encountered before.

Su Mo’s expression darkened slightly as he looked around at the boxes. “Fruit, you said the boxes here are filled with gold and gems?”

ScarletFruit opened one for Su Mo to see and said, “Yes, is there a problem with these?”

Su Mo’s gaze was fixed on the final painting, which depicted a ruler surrounded by gold and treasure. He quickly moved to the central pit, which revealed an endless shaft. He shoved the nearest box down the shaft and said sternly, “Push all the boxes down.”

Push them down???

The others were momentarily stunned. Bitter Melon was the first to react. “The painting shows a ruler with treasure… Does this mean we need to get rid of their treasure?”

“The boss never spoke, but when ZenSlasher removed the treasure, the boss panicked and shouted that its items were gone,” Su Mo said as he pushed another box down. “The wall paintings suggest that these treasures are crucial. The key to the 10th floor is in this.”

Since the leader said so, everyone joined in and started pushing the boxes. After a short while, one of the four wall paintings suddenly lit up.

“Oh crap, we really are pushing boxes.”

“This is amazing, hurry up and push them!”

As more boxes were pushed down, the paintings on the 10th floor continued to light up more and more.

Eventually, only three boxes remained blocking the stairway. Su Mo immediately summoned the bear. The 10th floor, which was quite cramped, became even more crowded with the bear in it. He said sternly, “Move the boxes, and let the bear block the way.”

ClearWind, who was closest, along with Watermelon and ZenSlasher, quickly moved the boxes that were blocking the stairway.

As soon as the door was about to be forced open by the boss, the bear immediately blocked the original position. The three of them didn’t waste any time and quickly ran to the shaft, tossing the boxes down. Mid-air, gold and gems scattered and gleamed brightly under the candlelight.

“Oh crap, look at the boss!”

Su Mo took a few steps back and saw the two bosses from the 9th floor standing on the edge, as if they were chasing the treasure, and leapt down from the 9th floor.

He paused for a moment, recalling a line from ancient Chinese texts.

“People die for wealth.”

At that moment, all the wall paintings on the 10th floor were fully illuminated.

[[Senro Tower – 10th Floor] Thank you, wise saviors.]

[Congratulations to the players for reaching the 10th floor of the Celestial Tower and completing the quest [Senro Tower] challenge.]

[Server Announcement][Advertising Space for Rent] Having withstood the trials and reached the top floor of the Senro Tower, completing the ★★★★★ difficulty quest [Senro Tower], the team became the first to clear the [Grand Debate of the Realm Tournament – Phase One], setting the fastest completion record for the Grand Debate of the Realm Tournament quest, and received quest completion rewards [Discussion Tournament Secret Treasure] x2.

As soon as this message popped up, the Global Channel exploded.

It was only the first day of the Saturday event; the quest had just started in the morning, and by that very evening, a team had already cleared it. Even though the Grand Debate of the Realm Tournament had reduced the number of quest stages to shorten the competition time, this was still a five-star quest, and the difficulty hadn’t been reduced!

[Impressive, a five-star quest cleared in less than a day; this achievement is quite substantial!]

[Our team failed twice… ]

[Such a performance must be from a top-tier team. I wonder which top-tier team it was.]

[Am I the only one who noticed the team name? Advertising Space for Rent??? Is it really for rent???]

[This name is too bizarre. Which top-tier team would choose such a name?]

[The sign-up list is closed; we can’t see which top-tier team it was now.]

Those in the dungeon hadn’t noticed the Global Channel discussion. After receiving the rewards for clearing the quest, the scene before them abruptly flashed, and they found themselves transported back to the top of the Grand Debate of the Realm.

Three stone tablets in the Senro Tower displayed the words [Cleared], while the other two quests remained locked. After clearing the quest, everyone’s attention shifted to opening the chests. Five-star quests naturally yielded five-star rewards. Given that the Grand Debate of the Realm Tournament had increased the probability of encountering high-difficulty quests, the reward probabilities were subtly adjusted as well.

In the quest chests for this Grand Debate of the Realm Tournament, the material drop rate was the highest, followed by items and equipment. Other drops like spirit pets and skills were given lower probabilities. The ten-member team began opening their chests after finishing. Most of them received materials, some of which were tradable and some were not. A few got equipment, fashion items, and so on.

Su Mo had joined the quest primarily to acquire more special materials. Ever since he obtained the Lunar Charm last time, he had a sense that these newly introduced special materials had unique uses. As expected, he received two special materials from his chests: one was an expensive high-grade material available on the market, and the other was a non-tradable refining material.

[Tooth of the Thunderwolf: The fangs of the high-grade demon beast Thunderwolf, a rare forging material.]

With this addition, Su Mo now had two such materials in his possession.

“Brother, what did you get?” Su Mo asked Yu Zhen, who was next to him.

“Quest weapon,” Yu Zhen said, lifting a weapon into view. A red, flowing-patterned Judge’s Brush appeared in front of Su Mo.

Su Mo, intrigued, asked, “What type is it?”

“It has a very high base attack, focused on offense,” Yu Zhen explained. His previous weapon had balanced attributes, but since he was not a balanced array master, the weapon’s attributes didn’t add much for him. This new quest weapon, being attack-oriented, would significantly boost his attack power once it reached max level. Additionally, with dual weapons, it might even become a dual-skill weapon at full upgrade.

Hearing about Yu Zhen’s weapon, the others quickly gathered around to check it out.

As the time approached eleven o’clock, they discussed scheduling their next quest. Due to the large-scale event of the Grand Debate of the Realm Tournament and the emphasis on reducing player load, there was more event time available. The faction battles, being a major gameplay component, also had temporary adjustments, with the faction buffs turned off for two weeks. The Fruit Guild didn’t need to allocate too many resources to faction battles, so everyone agreed to continue the quest tomorrow morning.

“Momo,” Su Mo said, “we’re logging off now. Good night.”

ScarletFruit and the others knew that the older brother went to bed early. After exchanging goodnights, they suddenly heard another voice.

UnchainedWanderer said, “I’m logging off too. You all continue.”

The two older brothers logged off very quickly, with less than 20 seconds between them, swiftly disappearing from the game.

Seeing this, ScarletFruit and the others exchanged glances, and they all thought of the same thing.

Apple said, “They logged off together.”

ClearWind spoke first, “What’s up with the older brothers? I don’t get it, but it’s really hard not to think in other directions.”

ScarletFruit added, “I used to think that my two older brothers had a strong brotherly bond, but now I’m not so sure. Let me think about it.”

ZenSlasher suggested, “Maybe stop reading so many novels.”

Cantaloupe, observing the group’s exaggerated reaction and recalling his first time observing a team, added his thoughts, “I didn’t understand before, but from my perspective, they were too calm. This usually means nothing’s wrong.”

He then added, “Trust me, this theory is pretty solid.”

***

After Su Mo logged off, he saw that the man beside him was still connected to the loading screen. Without thinking, he grabbed his blanket and was about to drape it over Yu Zhen when he unexpectedly met Yu Zhen’s open eyes.

Yu Zhen had just disconnected and saw the person leaning toward him. The warm blanket, carrying the other person’s body heat, was already half draped over him. The action of the youth holding the blanket paused for a moment, seemingly caught off guard by Yu Zhen logging off.

“You’re logging off so soon?” Su Mo loosened his grip, letting the blanket fall over Yu Zhen. “I thought you’d play for a bit longer.”

Yu Zhen smiled, opening his arms to wrap around Su Mo’s waist.

Even though their bodies were separated by clothing, Yu Zhen could still feel Su Mo’s slender frame beneath his hands. The youth he was holding rested slightly against his shoulder, and Yu Zhen inhaled the distinctive scent of the other man. In a soft voice, he asked, “Su Mo, would you mind if I held you like this?”

Unlike in the game, the embrace in reality seemed to carry a different kind of intimacy.

Su Mo could distinctly smell the faint, crisp scent on Yu Zhen. It felt as if Yu Zhen was holding him, but also as if he was holding Yu Zhen. The sensation of the embrace was profoundly intimate, causing his heart to beat faster.

It wasn’t surprising, and he didn’t mind.

“I don’t mind,” Su Mo said, remaining still. “You can hold me a bit longer.”

Yu Zhen chuckled softly at his words. His hand, which had been resting on Su Mo’s waist, moved up to gently cradle the back of his neck.

The strands of hair under his touch were soft and silky. Yu Zhen held him tighter for a moment, rubbing his fingers through Su Mo’s hair, before finally letting him go.

“It’s time for you to sleep,” Yu Zhen said. “I’ll head back now and come over tomorrow.”

As Yu Zhen covered him with the blanket, Su Mo remained on the sofa. “Take your medicine and go to bed. Good night.”

“Good night.”

After bidding Su Mo good night, Yu Zhen left, not staying over at his place.

As Yu Zhen stepped out of the dormitory, he glanced down at the terminal, which was overflowing with messages accumulated over time. The messages were a mix of work-related, game-related, and personal communications, totaling dozens of notifications.

Yu Zhen scrolled through the messages with a flick of his fingers. After taking a few steps outside, he suddenly noticed Zhang Qi standing across from him.

Zhang Qi had just returned home after drinking with friends. As he exited the smart elevator, he bumped into Yu Zhen coming out of the dormitory.

Zhang Qi hesitated and looked at Yu Zhen, asking, “You…? Just coming out?”

“Yeah,” Yu Zhen replied, putting away his terminal. “Have you been drinking?”

Zhang Qi nodded. “I was out drinking with Fatty.”

Yu Zhen said, “Get some rest after you sober up. I’m heading back.”

“Okay,” Zhang Qi responded, watching Yu Zhen enter the smart elevator.

As the effects of the alcohol began to wear off, Zhang Qi suddenly remembered that Yu Zhen had mentioned having plans for the evening.

Zhang Qi looked at Su Mo’s door with a puzzled expression. What’s this? Is there something going on? Why is it so late?

Inside the door, Su Mo sat on the sofa, watching Yu Zhen leave. He absentmindedly touched the back of his neck, as if the sensation from moments ago was still lingering.

After a moment of silence, Su Mo looked up and saw Lele standing beside him.

Su Mo asked, “?”

Lele squatted in front of him, arms wide open. “Su Mo, hug.”

Seeing Lele’s inexplicable behavior, Su Mo decided to indulge the robot’s curiosity and gave it a quick hug.

“Get me a glass of warm water, I’m going to freshen up,” Su Mo said. He quickly released the hug, got up from the sofa, and walked toward the bathroom.

Lele looked at him in confusion. After Su Mo’s figure disappeared from view, Lele hesitated and looked at its hands.

The data indicated that males might feel lonely after reaching adulthood and require timely care from family members… But why did its hug feel different from Mr. Yu Zhen’s? Was its care insufficient?

Lele pondered this while heading to get the warm water, and simultaneously downloaded new learning materials from its smart library—“The Art of Hugging.”

Author’s note: 

ScarletFruit: I’m not as wise as I used to be. 

Cantaloupe: Trust me, I’m a master of theory.

Meanwhile…

Lele, seeking advice: Mr. Yu Zhen, are there any techniques for hugging? 

Brother Zhen: ?