Zheng Mei nodded. “Indeed. Previously, the group owner, Fanxing, would personally verify them, but not anymore.”
Xu Youyou asked, “Are the requirements lower now?”
“No, they aren't lower,” Zheng Mei replied. “It's because the person coming to personally verify you is a trusted confidant of the current owner, and they also need to investigate your life history, even your ancestors.”
Zuo Lin'an didn't find it surprising. “That's quite reasonable.”
The two women opened their private chats with the group owner and sent messages.
In less than a minute, a reply came.
【Su Ze: I got it. Wait.】
Just a few simple words, and that was all.
Zheng Mei stared at those words for a long time before putting away her phone with a melancholic expression.
“Alright, go to the kitchen and bring out all the dishes. Someone should be arriving soon.”
Zuo Lin'an suddenly realized. “Are we inviting them for lunch?”
Zheng Mei smiled. “It's just around noon, so of course we should have them stay for a meal.”
Zuo Lin'an understood. When Zheng Mei said earlier that the group owner would send a confidant to verify their identities, she had likely chosen this noon hour on purpose.
It was to keep the person here, using the mealtime to let him and Xu Youyou build a relationship with the newcomer, or at least get on familiar terms.
But the two of them were already dungeon bosses. What was the use of getting on good terms with ordinary Specter Masters?
Unless...
The people coming to verify their identities weren't just Specter Masters, but were like them—dungeon bosses?
Then just how many dungeon bosses were there in this Starry Chat Group?
What about the original group owner, Fanxing?
Was he one too?
And the current owner, Su Ze, who had replaced Fanxing—was he one as well?
Hiss!
Zuo Lin'an suddenly felt he couldn't quite see through this Starry Chat Group. This chat group seemed far more impressive than he had thought!
As he pondered, he stood up and walked into the kitchen with Xu Youyou to carry out the dishes.
Once he snapped back to reality, he felt quite touched.
Perhaps Zheng Mei only cared about Xu Youyou, and he was just an afterthought, but even so, he had indeed received many benefits.
Even the information about Sin Hunter City and becoming a dungeon boss had been obtained from Zheng Mei.
Otherwise, he would probably be taking the college entrance exam right now, preparing to apply for universities.
His future life would have repeated the mediocrity of his past life, continuing to live as a beast of burden.
In that case... he would tolerate Xu Youyou's foul mouth a bit more in the future.
After about ten minutes, a knock came from the door. Zuo Lin'an went to open it, with Xu Youyou eagerly trailing behind him.
Opening the door, they saw two men... no, boys standing outside!
They looked to be around seventeen or eighteen, about the same age as Zuo Lin'an.
Zuo Lin'an showed no expression and took a step back. “Please, come in.”
The two outside walked in.
“Sorry for the intrusion.”
At this moment, Zheng Mei walked over from inside. “You're here. It's just around noon, and since the identity verification will take some time, why don't you stay for a meal?”
The two boys exchanged a look and finally nodded in agreement.
“Alright then.”
Arriving at the dining room, Zheng Mei and Wu Yun were making final preparations, while the four of them sat in a corner, seemingly ready for a quick chat.
One of the boys cleared his throat and spoke in a serious tone.
“First, let me introduce ourselves.”
“We are both members of the Starry Chat Group. I'm Bai Yuan, and this is Song Yangxia beside me. You can call us Brother Bai or Brother Song.”
Zuo Lin'an and Xu Youyou both stared at them in silence.
These two looked about the same age as them, and the one named Song Yangxia actually looked even younger than Zuo Lin'an. Call them 'Brother'?
No way, they couldn't bring themselves to say it.
Bai Yuan waited for a moment. Hearing no “Brother”, he sighed softly.
A fleeting look of disappointment flashed in both of their eyes.
“Alright, I knew it...”
“Forget it, you don't have to call us that. It doesn't matter anyway.”
Song Yangxia grumbled, “Sigh, newcomers these days aren't easy to fool.”
Then, he and Bai Yuan began scrolling through something on their phones.
Zuo Lin'an figured they were probably looking through his and Xu Youyou's files.
Bai Yuan read, “Hmm... Zuo Lin'an, raised in an orphanage, no parents, no relatives.”
“Attended elementary and middle school normally, entered Lingyang First High School with excellent grades, learned about the existence of specters through Zheng Mei's channels, and submitted the 《Sin Hunter City Entry Application》 ten days before the college entrance exam.”
“Subsequently spent some time training at the training base, applied to enter the city early, and finally successfully became a Human-Specter Symbiont. Recently planned his dungeon and achieved his first team wipe of players.”
“Mhm, not bad, not bad.”
“No criminal record, no moral issues, nothing that requires special attention. You've passed. From now on, you're a member of the Starry Chat Group. I'll add you to the group.”
Zuo Lin'an was stunned. He hadn't expected the identity verification to be this simple.
He had thought someone would test him using rules.
But on second thought, this was the supernatural world, and there were countless unknown methods. There was probably no need to test him face-to-face.
By the time Zheng Mei and Wu Yun sent the messages, all of their information was likely already sitting on the group owner's desk.
Sending people here to verify their identities was probably just a formality.
He took out his phone, and Bai Yuan quickly added him to the Starry Chat Group.
Right after joining, Zuo Lin'an curiously browsed through the group and found that there were several rules.
【Rule One: Do not invite anyone into the group privately. If there is a suitable candidate, you must inform the group owner in advance, and their identity must be verified by designated personnel.】
【Rule Two: After joining the group, you must not use specters to harm people outside. Once discovered, you will be eliminated immediately.】
【Rule Three: Do not speak casually in the group. You should only post when you need help, and group members can decide for themselves whether to assist.】
【Rule Four: Group members requesting help must discuss the reward with those who offer assistance beforehand. It can be free assistance, paid in money, or even as a personal favor.】
【Rule Five: If you are short on money, you can contact the official special department to take on bounty missions there. The bounty rewards are very generous.】
【Rule Six: Do not leak any identity information of the group members to outsiders.】
【Rule Seven: Do not harass the group owner for no reason!!!】
The first few rules were fine, but this last one...
Zuo Lin'an asked, “Bai Yuan, this seventh rule... do people actually harass the group owner often?”
Hearing this, Bai Yuan blinked.
“Of course, the group owner is very popular!”
“Many people accidentally find out that the Starry Chat Group has a new owner who is even stronger than the previous one, so they always try to contact him by any means.”
“They investigate the identities of the group members and use various ways to persuade or bribe them, just to have them contact the group owner to talk about random things.”
Rate on N.U.
