Of course, his so-called immortality was based on the premise that Zuo Lin'an, as the dungeon boss, did not want to kill him. If Zuo Lin'an wanted him dead, it would probably only take a single thought.
At this moment, Liu Zhengzhang, who was sitting in front of them, chatted with Zuo Lin'an and the others with great interest.
“When the specter bus stopped at the platform outside the school gate just now, I saw an acquaintance—the one who traded Gu Hedao with some girl.”
Zuo Lin'an asked, “Oh? What about him? Is he your friend?”
Liu Zhengzhang shook his head. “Not really, but I do know a thing or two about what happened between him and Gu Hedao.”
Xu Youyou sniffed out the scent of gossip.
“Uncle, tell us the details!”
Liu Zhengzhang cleared his throat.
“Actually, it's quite simple. Gu Hedao was randomly assigned to his dungeon before and led a group of people to clear it, which meant his dungeon couldn't be reopened until the next world.”
Sitting to the side, Feng Xingyun's eyes widened slightly.
The next... world?!
“The Gu Hedao you saw at Lingyang First High School was young, but back when he was in that dungeon, he still looked like his original old self.”
“And guess how Gu Hedao cleared it?”
Zuo Lin'an asked, “What was the star rating of that person's dungeon?”
Liu Zhengzhang replied, “It was a Two-Star Daily Dungeon.”
“How many specters were there?”
“Two. They're actually a married couple, and they run that dungeon together.”
Zuo Lin'an asked in a somewhat uncertain tone, “Don't tell me his wife took a liking to that distinguished old man Gu Hedao?”
Liu Zhengzhang slapped his thigh.
“You're incredibly sharp to guess that right on the mark!”
“At first glance, Gu Hedao really does have a transcendent, sage-like air. His wife was instantly charmed. Not only did she secretly help him clear the dungeon later on, but she even quietly tipped him off about the locations of the specter items.”
“As a result, Gu Hedao not only cleared it himself but also successfully protected several other players, sweeping away all the specter items in the process. All the while, the wife kept covering for him.”
“After Gu Hedao and the others cleared the dungeon, the husband noticed his wife acting strange. After reviewing the whole run, he finally discovered what had happened.”
“This made him absolutely furious, so he immediately posted a bounty on the forum!”
Zuo Lin'an was somewhat speechless.
He recalled the bounty on Gu Hedao in the forum. Indeed, there were some photos of his original appearance.
He had to admit, he was indeed the type who could charm elderly ladies.
“So, after Gu Hedao was bought by him...”
Liu Zhengzhang chuckled, a hint of sleaziness in his grin.
“How many specters who become dungeon bosses do you think are actually normal? Although I can't guess exactly how Gu Hedao will be treated, the outcome definitely won't be pretty.”
Xu Youyou threw out a shocking remark.
“Now that the old lady sees such a young Gu Hedao, maybe she'll like him even more?”
Liu Zhengzhang paused slightly upon hearing this, then looked at him in surprise.
“What you... what you said actually... actually makes sense.”
Zuo Lin'an rubbed his temples speechlessly and didn't chime in.
Xu Youyou continued.
“Uncle Liu, you said that Two-Star dungeon is run by a married couple. That means after he bought Gu Hedao, ownership belongs to both of them, not just one person.”
“So as long as the wife is unwilling to harm Gu Hedao, he can stay alive indefinitely?”
Liu Zhengzhang nodded inwardly.
Dungeon NPCs were roughly divided into two categories.
The first type was hired externally.
For example, Zuo Lin'an and Xu Youyou, who had just graduated from the training base, could hire fellow graduates to act as NPCs. This was essentially employment.
They had to be paid a salary, and they couldn't be ordered around at will.
The second type was like Feng Xingyun.
They were player-turned-puppet dungeon NPCs. Their lives were frozen at the moment they failed to clear the dungeon, and their lives and deaths were entirely in the hands of the dungeon boss.
However, if a dungeon had more than one boss, unless there was a clear hierarchy between them, any decision regarding the puppet NPCs required the consent of all the bosses.
After all, high-difficulty dungeons tended to have more bosses.
Some relationships were equal, while others were not.
For instance, Liu Zhengzhang's own Three-Star dungeon had two specters. One was himself, and the other was someone who had approached him privately, expressing a willingness to join and co-manage the dungeon.
Their arrangement was a mix of partnership and employment. They interacted as equals normally, but the other party's status in the dungeon was a tier below his.
Therefore, if Gu Hedao wanted to survive...
He would have to frantically curry favor with that middle-aged woman. Otherwise, the moment she abandoned him, the middle-aged man who detested him to the core would surely make him wish he were dead.
After all, having been a specter and a dungeon boss for so long, the husband was certainly no saint.
Zuo Lin'an had little interest in these matters, but Xu Youyou chatted with the man enthusiastically until the man reached his destination, bringing their pleasant conversation to an end.
“Uncle, let's stay in touch.”
Liu Zhengzhang stood up to get off the bus. “No problem.”
After he disembarked, only the four of them remained on the bus.
Xu Youyou remarked, “Brother An, I think he's really good at holding a conversation.”
Zuo Lin'an said, “Just be careful you don't get scammed.”
Xu Youyou replied, “Don't worry, I won't give him any money. As for Contribution points, he can forget about it. Besides, I'm a dungeon boss myself. I don't believe anyone would dare to make a move on me.”
“Furthermore, I'm a Human-Specter Symbiont. I'm different from ordinary specters. Even if he tried something, he might not be able to do anything to me.”
Xu Youyou maintained an air of nonchalance.
“And another thing, I'll probably spend most of my time in my dungeon anyway. Is he going to come to my dungeon just to cause trouble for me?”
At this point, Xu Youyou pulled out the phone he had just bought and showed the screen to him.
Zuo Lin'an saw that it was a chat log between him and Bai Yuan.
【Bai Yuan: Liu Zhengzhang? I looked him up. Just an ordinary specter boss with three rules.】
Xu Youyou grinned. “This Liu Zhengzhang is just an ordinary specter boss, not a Human-Specter Symbiont, so he can't increase his number of rules. Get it?”
Zuo Lin'an understood.
Liu Zhengzhang couldn't increase his number of rules like they could.
Furthermore, Specter Sublimation Stones were only useful for artificially created Human-Specter Symbionts like them. They were useless for naturally evolved specters and naturally transformed Human-Specter Symbionts.
No matter how long someone had been a dungeon boss, their strength would forever remain at its initial level.
Unless... they hit the jackpot and obtained a specter item, similar to the 【Gold Hairpin Token of Love】 in Zuo Lin'an's possession.
“As long as you know what you're doing.”
Knowing to quietly ask someone about Liu Zhengzhang's identity showed that Xu Youyou was not as naive as he appeared on the surface.
As for Liu Zhengzhang, he had likely caught wind of the unique nature of Zuo Lin'an and Xu Youyou while inquiring about Feng Xingyun, which prompted him to strike up a conversation.
Liu Zhengzhang had intentionally approached them and added them as friends, probably because he recognized their potential and wanted to establish a good relationship early on.
Zuo Lin'an could understand this.
Rate on N.U.
