When Ren Yi stepped out of the clinic, he immediately saw Ren Man waiting quietly by the entrance.
"Brother, Dr. Lin agreed to tutor me in the sleep pod at night from now on."
"Mm."
Okay, report completed. It seemed his safety could now be guaranteed.
Ren Yi stepped closer, suddenly feeling a bit playful. "Brother, now that you know my rules, for the sake of fairness, shouldn't you tell me one of yours?"
Ren Man thought for a moment before responding, "Filth must be cleaned."
Ren Yi: "?"
Did that... even count as a rule? In an instant, his mind flashed through images of his brother's meticulous desk, the perpetually gleaming floors, and the merciless suppression of even the slightest hint of messiness in Ren Yi himself.
I get it, a rule-level cleanliness obsession.
"So, Brother, are you the 'Rule-trigger type' that Dr. Lin mentioned?" Ren Yi pressed on, unwilling to give up.
"Mm."
Unfortunately, no matter how much Ren Yi asked, Ren Man only responded with those same few words. Eventually, Ren Yi gave up entirely.
Then, Ren Yi suddenly remembered something.
Since his "food" could be provided by his brother, then...
"Brother, let's walk around the neighborhood for a bit before we go home. I haven't greeted the uncles and aunties I know in the community since my awakening."
...
Over the following week, Ren Yi's summer life remained very fulfilling.
Familiarizing himself with his Anomaly body by day and doing his "schoolwork" at night—it was honestly more exhausting than actual school.
That was until he received a message from Lu Zihan.
"Stool, meet me at my uncle's shop tomorrow. Don't forget."
Ren Yi quickly replied with a "Received" emoji.
After surfing the web at high speeds these past few days, Ren Yi had already figured out what this "summer job" actually was.
"Brother, I'm going to an 'Internship Instance' with Lu Zihan tomorrow."
The escape room shop was just a cover. The so-called "Internship Instance" was essentially a "cram school" for newly awakened Anomalies.
Having Anomaly Cubs, who might lose their humanoid form at any moment, play the role of ghosts was truly a perfect professional match.
When Ren Yi first learned about this, a scene from a nature documentary he had watched in his previous life involuntarily surfaced in his mind: a lion caught a live antelope calf but didn't eat it; instead, it threw it to the lion cubs to play with.
In fact, the situation of the Participants in an Internship Instance might be slightly worse than that of the antelope. After all, a lion might just want a full belly, but what Anomalies wanted was far more than that.
At eight o'clock the next morning, Ren Man dropped Ren Yi off at the mall right on time.
The sign for "Endless Gaming Hall" was tucked away in a corner, surrounded by a dazzling array of posters for escape rooms, murder mystery games, and board games. The lights were bright and the colors were vibrant, bearing no resemblance to the eerie and terrifying "Instance entrance" Ren Yi had imagined.
"Stool, over here!"
As soon as Ren Yi entered, he heard Lu Zihan's energetic shout.
Turning his head, he saw Lu Zihan sitting on a chair next to a beautiful woman.
Lu Zihan looked the same as he did a few days ago at school, but for some reason, he seemed a bit stiff, sitting upright as if he wanted to stand up but didn't dare to.
The beautiful woman had curly brown hair and wore a long black dress. Upon seeing Ren Yi, she immediately offered a dignified smile.
"Hi Zihan. Also, hello, Auntie Lu," Ren Yi greeted her exceptionally politely.
This woman was Lu Zihan's mother, Lu Qing. In Ren Yi's memory, she was a woman with a very powerful aura who had looked after him quite a bit.
"Xiao Yi is here. Did you come by yourself?" Lu Qing spoke gently.
"Yes, my brother dropped me off downstairs and left," Ren Yi answered honestly.
"Your brother certainly trusts you." Lu Qing chuckled, covering her mouth. "Come, sit. Your brother probably hasn't told you much about Instances. I'll explain it to you and Zihan together."
Ren Yi obediently sat next to Lu Zihan, and both of them sat up straight to listen to Lu Qing's lecture.
"Instances are our hunting grounds."
"You've probably seen some explanations online. Our world once faced destruction."
Lu Qing's tone was soft and gentle, yet the content made the two teenagers' backs stiffen slightly.
"Some powerful Anomalies rescued a portion of our compatriots from the ruins and barely managed to build the current 'Alliance world' to sustain our species."
"However, this created world is unstable. Its rules are shattered, and its essence is incomplete. To fix this, we must harvest energy from other worlds to constantly repair our own and provide for the survival of the next generation, like you."
Seeing the nervous expressions of the two little ones, Lu Qing broke into a smile. "Don't worry. If the sky falls, the tall ones will prop it up. You two don't need to worry about all that; just know that we must strive together to protect our world."
"I've strayed too far. Let's get back to what you'll be facing." Lu Qing leaned forward slightly. "To repair and sustain this world, we need energy. Where does that energy come from? It is 'harvested' from other worlds."
"The specific process involves our world's rules or powerful Anomalies invading first to anchor the world's coordinates."
"Then, the tug-of-war begins. The other world's will will constantly reject us, exposing our rules, creating rules that favor them, bestowing 'talents' or 'items,' and so on."
"In this way, Instance rules that are relatively 'fair' to both sides are formed. And our mission..."
She paused, her lips curving into a beautiful yet cold arc. "...is to crush their resistance and clear out all Participants."
"Once their resistance weakens to a certain point, that world will be marked as a 'Pasture.' Whether we continue to squeeze resources from it or have even more powerful Anomalies perform the final 'harvest' depends on decisions made at a higher level. You don't need to look too deeply into that."
"Today's Instance is using Zihan's uncle's venue to connect to a Pasture world for you to practice."
"Remember, although the rules of a 'Pasture' generally cannot provide direct help to Participants within the Instance, the basic fairness of the Instance still exists. Furthermore, the Participants themselves should not be underestimated."
Lu Qing paused and said meaningfully, "Do not underestimate Humans."
Ren Yi and Lu Zihan listened intently. Just then, a somewhat haggard middle-aged man walked out from the inner room. It was Lu Zihan's uncle, Lu Zi.
"Sister, it's about time. Let them in. They'll understand the specifics once they go through the process."
"Alright, go get ready," Lu Qing urged, though she still sounded a bit worried. "Be careful. Around seventy to eighty percent of Internship Instances are successfully cleared, so don't feel too much pressure."
Ren Yi and Lu Zihan took a deep breath and pushed open the door leading to the small dark room inside.
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