Player 0

Wu Qiong deliberately put on the appearance of an old man with failing eyesight to completely lower He Shouchen's guard.

After exchanging some pleasantries, Wu Qiong took the initiative to bring up a subject:

"Years ago, I was fortunate to have met your son once. At that time, I already felt he had an extraordinary aura between his brows. So many years have passed in a blink—how is your son doing now?"

He Shouchen found that everything the old Taoist said today hit the right spot.

He had already made up his mind to have his son, He Wenxiu, compete with the other great families for control of Whalefall City. Today was the perfect opportunity to introduce his son to Wu Qiong.

If Wu Qiong took a liking to He Wenxiu, and helped him from within, then seizing Whalefall City would be much easier.

He glanced at the time and said, "It's almost noon. If Master isn't busy, I'd like to invite you home for a simple meal. I'll have my son join us—it's been a while since we had a family meal together."

"That's excellent! Very good!" Wu Qiong smiled agreeably. "I'll follow Principal He's arrangements."

He Shouchen had always been a master of appearances. He welcomed Wu Qiong into his home with great ceremony, shining with pomp and flair, and also summoned his son home.

Wu Qiong had mentioned He Wenxiu mostly out of genuine curiosity—what kind of person was He Shouchen's son?

A hundred years ago, the He and Bai families were close friends. Who could have imagined that after a century, the bond their ancestors forged would be gone, replaced with scheming and betrayal among the younger generations?

Wu Qiong followed He Shouchen to the He family ancestral home—one of the oldest buildings at the Space Federation University.

He Shouchen showed Wu Qiong into the house with impeccable manners, step by step, invitation by invitation.

But when Wu Qiong finally saw the legendary He Wenxiu, six words drifted through his mind:

Each generation is worse than the last.

A century ago, Alexander He, the founder of Space Federation University, was a heroic figure. He had single-handedly trained and housed 5,000 space workers within three years—an astonishing feat.

Without Alexander, there would be no space-age prosperity today.

Alexander's son had made the Space Power Rankings too, but in terms of decisiveness and leadership, he was nowhere near his father's level.

As for He Shouchen's generation, Wu Qiong could only laugh dryly. This old swindler had done countless despicable things—no fewer than the foolish mistakes Wu Qiong made in his youth.

Letting an unprincipled scoundrel be the principal? The university surviving this long was sheer divine mercy.

Now seeing He Wenxiu, Wu Qiong had fully lost hope in the He lineage.

The boy might as well hurry back to Earth, find a woman named Feng Xiaowa, and have her genetically match him with a wife. Maybe their child could inherit some freakishly strong genes and turn things around.

He Wenxiu was stiff and dull. When he saw Wu Qiong, he gave a simple greeting and sat silently, eyes blank.

He Shouchen, however, acted as if his foolish son was a prodigy—praising him endlessly at the table for being obedient and well-mannered.

Wu Qiong thought to himself: How could he not be obedient? The kid's too dumb to talk back. He doesn't speak because he can't think.

Of course, these thoughts stayed in his head—he had more important things to do.

After a few drinks, Wu Qiong suddenly clutched his stomach.

"Principal He, apologies, I need to use the restroom."

"Make yourself at home, Master," He Shouchen said, pointing the way before returning to his meal.

As soon as Wu Qiong entered the restroom, Player Zero slid off his body. Now completely naked, Wu Qiong felt like a perverted intruder sneaking around someone's private home.

Player Zero didn't waste a second—it instantly melted into a shadow and slipped out through the door crack.

Wu Qiong stayed silent, hiding in the bathroom, feeling he'd been tricked again.

The robot had insisted he strip entirely, claiming that wearing other materials would disrupt its form projection.

Wu Qiong hadn't thought much of it—he'd been exploited by robots before. So fine, strip it is.

But wearing a plasma-gel bodysuit was slimy and generated static electricity. Worst of all was thinking about how the robot had spent the whole day sliding over him under the guise of "clothing"—it made him want to punch something.

Now the situation was even more awkward: Wu Qiong was completely naked, squatting in someone else's bathroom.

If anyone discovered him like this, how could he explain it?

What, he drank too much and somehow lost his clothes in their house? In a house this small, where could his clothes possibly have gone?

Time ticked by. Wu Qiong waited and waited, but the robot didn't return.

What if it had been caught? Or maybe ran out of power mid-task?

Wu Qiong squatted there, increasingly regretful. Why had he trusted some strange ghost-robot in a panic?

Then came a knock on the door—He Shouchen's voice: "Master, are you alright?"

"All good, all good!" Wu Qiong replied quickly. "No need to worry—I'll be out soon."

But even after that, more time passed, and still no robot.

Had it been shut down? Arrested? Or worse—gotten distracted trying to fondle something?

Wu Qiong, cold and alone, shivered more by the minute. If the robot didn't come back soon, he'd catch a cold naked in this toilet!

Just when He Shouchen came back to knock again, a dark shadow finally slipped under the door.

The black robe reformed over Wu Qiong's shoulders, and only then did the weight in his heart ease.

The robot noticed his body temperature had dropped and thoughtfully activated a warming mode to heat him up.

Wu Qiong emerged from the bathroom with no appetite left.

"Master?" He Shouchen looked at him with concern. "Shall I take you to the hospital?"

"My home is a hospital." Wu Qiong gave a faint smile. "Sorry—it's probably just a chill from last night. I'm feeling a bit off. Forgive me—I must return to Whalefall City."

Seeing his pale face, He Shouchen didn't insist, personally escorting him out.

After exchanging some pleasantries, Wu Qiong boarded his mini shuttle and zoomed off toward Whalefall City.

Back home, the first thing he did was rip the robot off himself and put on his own clothes again.

As soon as the outfit hit the ground, it morphed back into the red-clad beauty, who tried to snuggle close once more—only to be coldly pushed away by Wu Qiong.

"Don't be so heartless after taking off your clothes!" she pouted. "We've been together so long—we've seen each other in less! Playing hard to get now, Daoist? You're acting like a newlywed!"

Wu Qiong ignored the flirting and asked sternly, "Did you get into the secret room?"

"I sure did!" she beamed, clearly expecting praise.

"And?" Wu Qiong narrowed his eyes. "What did you see?"

She leaned in close and cooed, "Kiss me first, and I'll tell you~"

Wu Qiong: "I have very limited patience. If you want to talk, talk. If not, forget it."