Chapter 225: Chapter 225 – Coupling System
“Please lie down and look at me…”
“Would it be better with the lights off? The curtains should be drawn too, or it would not be pleasant if others saw this…”
“Don’t worry, I’ll make you feel extremely comfortable…”
Qiao Muyi placed her ear against the door to one of the rooms on the third floor of the Countermeasure Division building and listened in excitement to what was going on inside.
Whoosh.
Suddenly, the door opened. Qiao Muyi almost lost her balance, but as a tier 2 Practitioner, her reaction speed was much faster than that of an ordinary person, so she quickly regained her balance. She stood up straight and saw Ren Suo emerging from the pitch-black room.
Ren Suo looked at her strangely and asked, “What are you doing?”
Qiao Muyi did not answer but instead looked down at her mobile phone. She replied, “You only took three minutes. Is it that fast between two guys?”
“Fast?” Ren Suo said as he blinked. He casually closed the door and questioned, “How long do you think I should take then?”
Qiao Muyi suddenly felt that the future was grim for Gu Yueyan and Dong Chengling. She wanted to confirm her speculation, so she probed once more, “What were you doing alone in the room with Li Dan?”
“Sleeping,” Ren Suo replied matter-of-factly.
Qiao Muyi swallowed her saliva and stepped aside. She typed on her mobile phone as she said, “Let me send a message first…”
Ren Suo scratched his head. He glanced at Qiao Muyi and asked, “Is there something that you need my help with?”
“What help would I need from you, a tier 1 Practitioner?” replied Qiao Muyi, rolling her eyes.
Ren Suo asked, “In that case, is Yu Kuangtu in now?”
Qiao Muyi looked at the room behind Ren Suo—the door was closed. She looked back at the energized Ren Suo and replied with a look of bewilderment, “Deputy Director Yu is not in today. Why, are you very close to Deputy Director Yu too?”
“No, I’m not that close to him,” Ren Suo said. He thought for a while, then added, “About as close as I am to Li Dan, I suppose.”
Qiao Muyi remarked, “That means you guys are very close, so close that you can be open and trust each other completely…”
As Qiao Muyi watched Ren Suo leave, she finished composing the message on her mobile phone and sent it. She remarked to herself:
“Who would have known…”
——————
Standing on the subway, Ren Suo could maintain his balance perfectly without holding onto the handles or leaning on any other object. He relied completely on his center of gravity to stand as still as a mountain, even as the train moved. He could even play games on his mobile phone without falling over.
Even though he was not paying any particular attention, he could still hear the whispers of those around him clearly:
“Haha, Lu Xiaoshu’s tactics are one of a kind.” —the student to Ren Suo’s left, who was reading a novel on his mobile phone, said.
“I won’t be going home for dinner, yes, I’ll be out throughout the night.” —a young man, who was seated on one of the seats and recording a WeChat voice message, said.
“Are we going to your house or mine tonight?”
“My house will be empty tonight.”
“You must wear that set of pajamas tonight. We have not bathed together for such a long time!”
“There’s no bathtub in my house, unlike yours. How are we going to bathe together?”
“We can shower together then, hee hee (# ^. ^ #).” —the conversation between two cute girls, who were whispering in each other’s ears.
Do not question why Ren Suo heard so much of their conversation—it was only because the two girls were closer to where he was standing in the train cabin.
It was just that after he heard the first sentence, he inched his way even closer to them.
‘Finally, I acquired one [Coupling] ability…’ Ren Suo thought. At that juncture, a message emerged in his thoughts:
[Li Dan, Level 1 Coupling. Coupling Ability ‘Insights of the World’: both sensory skills and body control are enhanced.]
That was part of the game system that Ren Suo acquired—the Coupling System from “Sex and the City Persona!”
The game system functioned differently compared to the Mini Worlds game console. For the game console, only the changing between abilities and props in the Back-up Slots could be done whenever Ren Suo consciously thought to do so; the other functions of the Mini Worlds game console could only be activated through the game console itself.
On the other hand, the game system he acquired was directly ‘loaded into’ Ren Suo, as if bound to his consciousness. As long as he consciously thought about it, he could easily understand more about the game system and directly perform any operation as well!
The Coupling System was a sub-system from “Sex and the City Persona!”. In the game, the effect of the system was such that the higher the coupling level between the main character and his couplings, the more benefits they both reaped.
The Coupling System which Ren Suo acquired was similar, with the only difference being the target—the couplings in the game were all set up for a purpose, but in reality, Ren Suo had to find his own targets whom he wanted to couple with.
Firstly, in order to form a coupling, not only must both parties be very close to each other, but Ren Suo also had to help the target to complete a certain task before the Coupling System would be activated. During which, Ren Suo had to put in his effort; otherwise, the Coupling System would not be activated, even if the coupling was between a parent and his child.
In addition, there was also a restriction on who could be coupling targets. Such a limit was quite easy to deduce: only Awakeners could become couplings.
Ren Suo had already looked for Zhao Huo once and helped him as a subtitle timer—he had not known previously that Zhao Huo was actually part of an anime subtitling team, in which he was also the leader.
Impressively, Ren Suo had heard about the subtitling team before, and it was well-known within Xuan Nation. When Ren Suo was still ‘young and innocent’, he also watched numerous animes subtitled by that team.
When Ren Suo went to look for Zhao Huo, it so happened that the timer of the team (who is in charge of synchronizing each line of the subtitles with the video) was on leave. Zhao Huo immediately asked Ren Suo to help with subtitling the moment Ren Suo asked if there was anything he needed help for.
Timing the subtitles did not require any technical expertise, and any ordinary person could master doing it in three hours.
As such, after six hours, Ren Suo had watched several episodes seven to eight times and finally finished the job. By then, he was already exasperated and tired of watching the episodes over and over again, but the Coupling System still did not activate.
Then, Ren Suo went to find Li Dan to help him to sleep, and indeed, the Coupling System was activated.
What was the biggest difference between Li Dan and Zhao Huo? It was that Zhao Huo had a fiancee.
The second difference was that Li Dan was an Awakener, while Zhao Huo was just an ordinary Practitioner. Both of them were tier 2 Practitioners.
In addition, the Coupling Ability ‘Insights of the World’ was clearly related to Li Dan’s Awakened Ability. Ren Suo still remembered that Li Dan’s key was also called ‘Insightful Key’.
‘Would the Coupling Level increase just by helping Li Dan sleep a few more times? It can’t be that simple…’ Ren Suo thought.
The Coupling Level was related to the closeness between Ren Suo and Li Dan. Nonetheless, Ren Suo knew that simply being Li Dan’s ‘professional hypnotizer’ was insufficient for Li Dan to trust him completely.
Furthermore, according to the Coupling System, the effect of the Coupling Ability was not only dependent on the Coupling Level but also affected by the target’s capabilities—the stronger the target, the stronger the Coupling Ability given.
“What an intriguing game system… I wonder if it can be turned into an ability and be equipped by the game characters.”
As Ren Suo was on his way back to the school, nearing the school gates, he suddenly received a call. After glancing at the caller ID, Ren Suo answered the call and said immediately:
“What’s up?”
——————
Gu Yueyan was preparing to head out of school with her friends to eat when she suddenly received Qiao Muyi’s message. Her first reaction was of disbelief—how could Ren Suo be gay when he boldly propositioned Dong Chengling even as he was about to die?
‘Sister Qiao is not always reliable either…’ Gu Yueyan thought to herself. She then dismissed the matter and kept up with her classmates to leave the school. Although Gu Yueyan and her friends were still slightly afraid after experiencing the previous incident, they certainly would not fall into the same trap again—once bitten, twice shy.
After all, the Countermeasure System had also gone down to work, and the new breed of monsters in the city were said to have already been eradicated. They could not remain on guard and fearful forever anyway. Since the rest of her classmates were no longer afraid, Gu Yueyan could not be afraid either—she even had the necklace storing Reiki spatial coordinates given to her by Dong Chengling.
“Eh?” Lin Xianyu remarked in surprise when they were nearing the school gate. She asked, “Isn’t that Brother Ren?”
Gu Yueyan looked in the direction Lin Xianyu was looking at and saw Ren Suo striding towards the school entrance from the subway station. He was waving at a young boy a distance away, who was wearing a pair of black jeans, a white shirt, a hat, carrying a backpack, and appearing slightly short.
‘Is that someone he knows?’ Gu Yueyan guessed in her heart. Then, the next second, she saw Ren Suo run towards the boy and hugged him.
It was not just that—the boy actually rubbed his face against Ren Suo’s!
After they finished hugging each other, Ren Suo immediately took out his wallet and gave the boy some money. Following this, the boy followed behind Ren Suo!
“Hey hey hey–? That’s already a crime!” Gu Yueyan exclaimed.