Life Game In Other World
Chapter 673: The Painting of Pollution (Seeking Monthly Passes on a Large Scale)

Chapter 673: Chapter 673: The Painting of Pollution (Seeking Monthly Passes on a Large Scale)

He Ao had four Exchange Stars left after the last-but-one Copy World settlement; he hadn’t used any character cards in the last Copy World, so those four Exchange Stars were saved up. Along with the four more he gained at the conclusion of the last Copy World, he had a total of eight Exchange Stars.

Currently, he possessed a total of five character cards, namely Joey’s [Primeval Flame], Vian’s [King of Nightfall], Nell’s [Usurper], Pete’s [Saint], and Jess’s [Sea-Deep Glimmer].

Among them, [King of Nightfall] was one that He Ao had previously redeemed. Of the remaining character cards, both [Primeval Flame] and [Sea-Deep Glimmer] were redeemable, with [Primeval Flame] requiring three Exchange Stars and [Sea-Deep Glimmer] requiring five.

It seemed that He Ao could use these eight Exchange Stars to redeem the remaining two character cards simultaneously, but in practice, once a character card was redeemed, it could not be immediately used; one also needed to exchange for usage time with Exchange Stars.

That is to say, if He Ao wanted to use a card immediately after redeeming it, the eight Exchange Stars would only suffice for him to choose one of the two redeemable character cards to redeem, and then use the remaining Exchange Stars to exchange for usage time.

Of course, He Ao could also choose not to redeem new character cards, instead using these Exchange Stars to redeem usage time for his already acquired [King of Nightfall].

It’s just unknown whether the system has a limit on the use of multiple character cards.

As He Ao pondered, he closed the character card interface.

He had already faintly sensed that this Copy World mission might not be that easy.

Of course, having completed these virtual missions for so long, he had accumulated some resources.

He Ao lifted his head to look at Jia Xi, who was reflected in the rearview mirror, sleeping soundly.

He did not immediately wake Jia Xi but instead turned his gaze towards the Gold Sycamore Street across the street, at number 60.

It was a small building facing the street, with a sign in front of it for the Federal Vagrant Charity Aid and Vocational Assistance Foundation, as well as an upside-down heart symbol.

The address Eve had found was correct; the foundation was still there, it hadn’t moved or faked its address.

The building’s ground floor had a small revolving glass door. When He Ao had arrived, a few well-dressed people were coming out together, looking like they were there to make donations.

Almost all charitable organizations in Saint Joen City are located in the eastern district, not only because it boasts the best public order in the city but also because it houses the few residents of Saint Joen City capable of making donations.

The Wanderer’s Aid Foundation does not refuse walk-in donations, which makes it appear more like a normally operating charity.

After those donors left, no one else came out of the charity’s revolving door, nor did anyone else go in.

Waiting around seemed unlikely to result in encountering someone who might be tainted.

"Jia Xi?"

He Ao looked up at the rearview mirror and gently called out.

Jia Xi’s small eyelashes fluttered for a moment before she opened her eyes groggily and sat up from the back seat, "Grandpa, are we there?"

"Yes,"

He Ao nodded and picked up the cane leaning on the co-driver’s seat, "Grandpa has to go take care of some things; the car’s autopilot will take you to a nearby safe place."

Jia Xi immediately widened her eyes, wanting to say something.

But He Ao lifted his hand, signaling to his granddaughter to let him finish speaking,

"If Grandpa runs into any trouble, there might be a need for urgent support, so Jia Xi, you need to ensure there are no issues with this SUV. In the event that I need a rescue, the vehicle must be able to arrive intact at the specified location. Moreover, you need to practice well to ensure you’re in top form, because if Grandpa becomes weakened, he will need Jia Xi’s protection."

He turned his head to look at his granddaughter in the back seat, "Can you do that?"

"Yes!"

Jia Xi nodded vigorously.

"Go for it!"

He Ao stretched out his hand, half-clenching his palm, with the back of his hand facing down, towards the rear of the SUV.

"Go for it!"

Jia Xi also raised her little fist and bumped it against He Ao’s fist.

"I’ll buy you ice cream when I get back, just let the auto-driving system take care of driving,"

He Ao gripped his cane, pushed open the driver’s side door, and stepped out of the SUV.

Jia Xi leaned on the car window, watching as He Ao walked away.

The SUV slowly started up and drove deeper into the street.

Eve would take Jia Xi to a safer place—near the entrance to the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s Saint Joen branch.

Yes, whether it was intentional or not, the small building of the charity foundation was located near the FBI branch in Saint Joen City.

Standing in front of the constantly revolving door, He Ao looked up at the small building.

The building’s exterior was modest, with no dazzling or luxurious decorations, and it even had an air of dilapidation and oldness.

Yet, unlike those old structures, all the windows of this building were replaced with dark, mirrored glass that only allowed viewing from the inside out, not the other way around.

These windows, hidden in the shadow of the neighboring buildings, seemed quiet and oppressive.

Of course, in Saint Joen City where sunlight was a rarity, this oppressive feeling was omnipresent.

He Ao lowered his head and walked through the revolving door.

"Hello,"

The lobby of this small building wasn’t large, consisting only of a few simple chairs and a reception desk.

A young receptionist dressed in a simple style sat behind the desk, her lower half hidden by the counter, wearing a white blouse and a dark purple scarf. She was now looking up at He Ao, "Sir, are you here to make a donation?"

He Ao briefly activated his Super Memory and scanned the receptionist, then pointed to the sign behind the counter and said in a slow voice, "I’m going to the restroom."

Behind the reception to the right was a long corridor, on which hung a sign with a forward arrow and symbols for the restroom and elevator.

It indicated that the restroom and elevator were along the direction the sign pointed to.

The receptionist glanced at He Ao’s expensive-looking suit and his upright stature, nodded slightly, and gestured towards the hallway, "The restroom is at the end of the hallway, on the other side of the elevator."

"Okay, thank you."

He Ao nodded, sent a message with his wristband, and then proceeded down the hallway with his cane.

The corridor wasn’t short, spanning about a dozen meters.

But on both sides of these dozen meters, there were no doors, just two stark white walls.

Although there were some paintings hanging on these white walls as decorations, the design still seemed somewhat peculiar.

Typically, hallways leading from lobbies connect to offices for the convenience of the first-floor staff.

In this case, where there are only walls, it means that staff working on the first floor would have to go around the wall to see their office.

That is, if there were staff working on the first floor.

He Ao watched the walls on both sides, which were adorned with abstract paintings composed of various colored blocks.

In He Ao’s past memories, he had never seen such paintings.

However, judging by Vian’s artistic taste, the artistic quality of these paintings was high, clearly showing resemblance to abstract masters in the history of the Federation, but also distinctly different from the masters’ techniques.

As He Ao delved deeper into observing these artworks, a hazy, chaotic whispering slowly echoed in his mind.

These whispers were extremely faint, and if not for He Ao’s extensive experience in combating madness, he might not have even noticed their existence.

The chaotic low murmurs reverberated in his mind, sketching out twisted, waving lines in his brain.

He Ao stepped closer to these paintings; he reached out to touch the glass surface of the painting frame closest and largest to him, then slowly infused his Divine Sense into it.

The Divine Sense brought no feedback of energy.

This painting has no issues at all and does not possess any transcendent elements.

He Ao lifted his head and once again swept his gaze across the surrounding paintings; it seemed that what summoned those chaotic whispers were the patterns formed by these paintings.

To some extent, these patterns formed something akin to ritual symbols, pointing to an unknown presence capable of emitting whispers, becoming an extension of that unknown presence’s power.

People with stronger souls and higher inspiration unknowingly established contact with that unknown presence while gazing at these paintings, thus allowing the contamination of that presence to spread and manifest as whispers.

The faint whispers were of low intensity and could not influence one’s mind in a short period.

However, if the affected person frequently viewed these paintings, deepening their connection to the whispers, the cumulative effect over time could subtly influence the thoughts of the ones hearing these whispers, and ultimately, step by step, push them towards madness.

He Ao’s gaze turned to the corner of the painting in front of him, where artists who drew these paintings would usually hide their signature within some detail of the artwork.

This was one of the common anti-theft measures in the art world.

Those capable of creating such paintings strongly associated with mystery and contamination must also be extremely close to mystery and contamination themselves.

Soon, he found a string of words formed by distorted lines in the lower right corner, a word that did not resemble a common name in the Federation, in fact, it was a specific term,

’Listener’

The signature the artist left behind was ’Listener’.

Of course, in the Federation’s language, there was another term with a similar meaning to ’Listener’,

Talent Sequences 9: Audience.

He Ao left the painting he was looking at and walked towards another one nearby.

Soon, he saw the same ’signature’ at the lower right corner of this painting, a ’Listener’ signature.

The person who painted these artworks called themselves ’Listener’.

"Old sir?"

Just then, a soft call rang in He Ao’s ear, pulling his attention away from the paintings.

He turned his head towards the source of the voice.

At that moment, at the entrance of the hallway, the young receptionist in the white shirt stood there, smiling at He Ao with an unnatural smile.

He Ao also saw what she wore on her lower half.

In contrast to the simple and neat upper half, her lower half was dressed in a black tight-fitting pencil skirt, paired with thin black thigh-high stockings.

A small part of the lace frill at the top of the stockings that reached up to her thighs was covered by the lowest hem of the pencil skirt, but it was not completely concealed, and the pale skin through the lace fringe was faintly visible.

Strictly speaking, this outfit should not appear on a receptionist at a charity organization.

Noticing He Ao’s gaze towards her, the receptionist continued with a smile, "Old sir, the bathroom is straight ahead."

Her smile was not natural, as if her lips were taped down and forcefully pulled to both sides.

"Thank you."

He Ao nodded, turned, and walked deeper into the hallway.

Soft footsteps followed behind him.

He looked back, and the receptionist was no longer at the entrance of the hallway.

So, he withdrew his gaze and moved on.

At the very end of the hallway was a T-junction, with the bathroom on the left, the elevator on the right, and next to the elevator was a pair of gray double doors that looked like a fire escape.

Until the end of the hallway, He Ao did not see any passages that could lead to other offices on the first floor.

Either there was no office set up on the first floor, or one would have to use a different entrance to access the office there.

He Ao first went to the restroom area, which was just a normal restroom.

Then he turned around and walked to the elevator on that side.

There was a card reader on the elevator’s control panel, making it clear that one needed a card to use the elevator.

He Ao then turned around and walked to the emergency passageway door.

He slowly reached out, grasped the handle of the iron door on the right, and pushed forward.

With the heavy iron door smoothly opening before him, a dark and deep staircase appeared before his eyes.

The faint glow of emergency lighting fell on the interior of the staircase, bringing into his view a descending staircase and one that led upward.

The two staircases presumably led to the second floor and underground, respectively.

He Ao pushed the iron door open a bit further and walked straight into the stairwell.

The landing of the stairwell and staircases on both sides were covered with a thick layer of dust, suggesting that it had been a long time since anyone had come here.

Bang—

As He Ao fully entered the stairwell, the heavy iron door swung shut behind him, producing a crisp sound.

He Ao looked back at the iron door once, then turned his head forward again to gaze at the two staircases before him.

The stairway leading downward and the one going upward both were filled with a quiet depth, the difference being that one could still barely see a bit of the emergency light on the upward staircase, while the downward staircase was pitch black, devoid of any light.

After a brief moment of contemplation, He Ao walked down the staircase that seemed to lead into the darkness below.

As he descended, the light from the emergency lights around him grew dimmer and dimmer until complete darkness enveloped him, and He Ao could only rely on the light from the small flashlight built into his wristband to see ahead.

In this silent darkness, with his footsteps echoing, there was a faint rustling sound, as if something was crawling in the dark.

This underground level was quite deep, as He Ao turned corners down two flights of stairs, a total of three sections, before he arrived in front of the emergency passageway door on the first basement level.

Due to the city’s sewer system and geological reasons, the underground buildings in Saint Joen City were not constructed very deep, mostly just one or two stories.

At this moment, the building that housed the charity foundation was one of those with only a single underground level.

And there was no path leading further down; this was the lowest part of the building.

He Ao lifted the small flashlight from his wristband to look ahead.

The emergency passageway door at the first basement level was not open; instead, it was wrapped with a thick and heavy iron chain around the handles of both doors, secured with an oversized padlock.

It appeared that this level had been sealed off, forbidding entry.

At least entry was prohibited through the emergency passageway.

He Ao placed his hand on the door where the two halves met, letting his Divine Sense penetrate the crack and enter the inside.

Behind the door was a corridor, silent and empty.

"Old man, there are some places you shouldn’t just walk into,"

An acutely pitched voice rang out above He Ao’s head.

He Ao looked up, directing his wristband’s small flashlight upward toward the ceiling.

There, on the dust-covered ceiling, the receptionist he had seen at the entrance clung to the surface of the ceiling like a spider.

Her head tilted backward as though her neck was bent a full three hundred and sixty degrees, the back of her head resting against her back, looking down upon He Ao from above. Her face still wore that stiff smile,

"Although I’ve been following you all along."