Trafford's Trading Club

Chapter 1198: Energetic Newcomer

Every sub-world inevitably has its own administrator—for example, this sub-world has Alaya, numbered 003.

Since there’s a number, other sub-worlds naturally have Alayas with other numbers.

Each sub-world’s Management Bureau diligently cultivates its own incubator, waiting for it to evolve to the required level. To cultivate the most perfect world, different sub-worlds undergo many restarts and openings, trying different evolutionary paths.

To maintain independence, different sub-worlds naturally have insurmountable barriers between them.

However, within this massive system, there are subsystems, and it’s impossible for them to be flawless and without loopholes—for example, creatures whose abilities exceed the sub-world’s set limits… like Transcendents or similar entities.

Transcendents can infiltrate different sub-worlds through dimensional rifts, using the unique penetration ability of these rifts.

Besides that, for a creature exceeding a sub-world’s limit to enter another sub-world, it can only do so by forcibly descending, being recognized by multiple sub-worlds to spread its name across them, or sneaking in through a temporal-spatial rift in the sub-world.

The owner of the horror house clearly arrived by sneaking in—and the timing was precisely during the small incident at the airport when Boss Luo returned from South America.

The incident involved a special item, the Eye of Horus ring, whose unique ability caused a brief temporal-spatial disorder—this was the root cause. Normally, Alaya 003 would have started correcting the disturbance immediately, leaving no time for a stowaway to sneak through.

But Boss Luo’s curiosity came into play, and Alaya 003’s obedience exceeded expectations, deliberately delaying just enough to allow the stowaway to split a fragment of consciousness and secretly descend.Boss Luo could easily figure out the cause and effect… well, that’s how it happened.

After all, this sub-world already has extraordinary beings; one more doesn’t matter.

…

“However, it seems that over all this time, those lives haven’t given up exploring.”

As they talked, the master and servant found a quiet teahouse and sat down, ordering some pastries. Miss Maid carefully spread butter on the bread while speaking slowly, “The source of time and space is still too tempting for them.”

Luo Qiu softly asked, “Have you explored it too?”

You Ye knew her master referred to the period before she became a club maid and nodded, “I once did, for a time.”

Luo Qiu nodded, then asked, “Were you curious about the source of time and space too?”

Miss Maid quietly replied, “The exploration was partly due to His orders at the time, and partly from my own interest. But…”

“But what?”

You Ye looked at Luo Qiu and softly said, “I’ve already found my endpoint.”

The two shared a smile, feelings slowly growing stronger.

At that moment, a car stopped across from the teahouse. A tired-looking middle-aged man hurried out and entered a nearby restaurant… it was Zhou Yusheng.

Next, Chen Mingming also got out of another ride-hailing car and walked in.

Luo Qiu glanced casually… and the conversation about the sub-world ended there.

“Master interested in Chen Mingming?” Miss Maid quickly sensed Luo Qiu’s attention.

Luo Qiu thought for a moment: “This person is somewhat like my former self… the club for me is like a silver pistol for Chen Mingming. He didn’t choose to use it himself but sent it out. Don’t you think that’s rather interesting?”

“Master wants… to make him his own?” Miss Maid sensed something.

“We’ll see.” Luo Qiu smiled faintly. “After converting Nero last time, there’s still some Source of Anomaly left. I can’t just leave so many threshold gates unused.”

…

Zhou Yusheng added cube after cube of sugar to his coffee—this was the fifth one.

“Too sweet is bad for the liver.”

Chen Mingming, sitting opposite, casually remarked. This made Zhou Yusheng pause his stirring—since sitting down, father and son hadn’t spoken.

Hearing this, Zhou Yusheng felt a bit of joy, but also a deepening guilt—he knew he had owed this child too much over the years.

Especially in the past three to four years, he had buried himself in work, letting the family fall apart. This realization made him feel heavy-hearted.

At some point, Chen Mingming’s personality had grown reclusive… likely due to frequent arguments with his parents.

“Waiter, bring me a new cup of coffee.” Zhou Yusheng pushed aside the overly sweetened cup and ordered again.

“Your complexion looks a bit better.” Chen Mingming observed, trying to ease the tense atmosphere.

Zhou Yusheng nodded, “You know I’ve had headaches these past years, couldn’t sleep well. But a few days ago, Uncle Gao sent me new focus pills, and they helped a lot. This medicine works better than before.”

“I see…” Chen Mingming lowered his head in thought, then added, “Professor Gao is on leave these days, hasn’t come to school.”

Zhou Yusheng responded, “He wants to travel for a while to broaden his horizons… won’t be back soon. He values you and wants to cultivate your growth. With his guidance, your development won’t be worse than abroad.”

“These years…” Chen Mingming looked up at Zhou Yusheng and said slowly, “You’ve spent almost all your time on work…”

“I know! I know I focused only on work and neglected you. But I will change!” Zhou Yusheng interrupted, “These past two days, I’ve felt calmer, like my Qi deviation has been corrected…”

Chen Mingming shook his head, stopping him.

Suddenly, he asked, “Can I ask you a question?”

“Ask.” Zhou Yusheng nodded heavily.

“Suppose I were an unforgivable criminal, would you personally arrest me?” Chen Mingming asked calmly.

Zhou Yusheng frowned, slightly agitated despite recent calm, slammed the table, voice tinged with anger, “What nonsense are you talking about!”

“I can calmly discuss this with Professor Gao,” Chen Mingming sighed. “Can’t you give me an answer?”

“How can I be like Gao Wen! I’m your father!” Zhou Yusheng exclaimed.

“By next Wednesday… I hope you’ll give me an answer,” Chen Mingming said quietly.

Next Wednesday… the date Zhou Yusheng knew as the time his ex-wife and son were leaving the country. Zhou Yusheng froze… he realized he had never truly understood his own son.

A wave of sorrow rose as he watched the calm Chen Mingming, lips moving, unable to speak.

“I’ll wait for your answer.” Chen Mingming stood, nodded slightly, and left the restaurant alone, drawing the surprised gazes of onlookers.

Zhou Yusheng remained, smoking intensely.

…

“…three remain uninvestigated; should be done by this afternoon.”

With a trace of fatigue, Wei Zidào and Liu Minghao returned to the city’s branch office.

Just as they stepped inside, an unusually tall figure blocked their way—a muscular, somewhat intimidating man who was missing an arm, which left the two feeling a bit surprised.

“Are you Liu Minghao, Intermediate Agent, and Wei Zidào, Junior Agent?”

At the same time, a much shorter figure, whose face practically radiated energy, immediately caught their eyes.

“Management Bureau Junior Agent Bu Bugao, reporting!”

Liu Minghao paused, then nodded and introduced himself as well—but he also wondered why a new agent had appeared here.

Although their current investigation had some obstacles, he hadn’t requested reinforcements, so normally no new agent should have arrived.

“Comrade Bu Bugao, what brings you here?” Wei Zidào asked directly.

The young, overly enthusiastic agent Bu Bugao smiled, “Well, I participated in the Mount Tai incident before and performed outstandingly, so the organization specifically assigned me to take up a permanent post here!”

“And?” Liu Minghao raised a large question mark.

Bu Bugao hurried to the coffee table, carrying two gift boxes. “I passed by, saw the mission info, and knew you two were on a temporary assignment here, so I came to greet you and connect! After all, we’ll have chances to work together in the future, and I also wanted to meet my seniors!”

The overly eager agent even added a touch of flattery.

Liu Minghao couldn’t help but smile wryly… The Management Bureau values strength, and it’s rare to see someone putting effort into social niceties.

Still… a little flattery is never wasted, and it’s hard to refuse a smiling face.

“Thoughtful of you,” Liu Minghao chuckled. “But forget the gifts. Bureau rules forbid accepting presents; you should take them back.”

“Senior, you truly are a model of law-abiding conduct!” Bu Bugao said with admiration.

This guy probably grew up in the old official system—he must be quite resourceful.

Liu Minghao shook his head internally, then looked at the stoic, one-armed man standing behind Bu Bugao and frowned, “Who’s he?”

“Oh, his name is Wang Hu! He’s a South China Tiger-level Demon. After I tamed him, he became my personal support and came with me to this post,” Bu Bugao hurriedly explained.

Liu Minghao nodded, paying little attention to Wang Hu.

Even among formal agents, there are demons serving, some even at higher ranks. As for support staff, weaker demons are sometimes recruited.

Usually, demons serving as support are either weaker in strength, have abilities suited for assistance, or seek Management Bureau protection from stronger demons.

Wang Hu, missing an arm, likely fled from an enemy and sought protection. With the Management Bureau’s reputation, demons are somewhat cautious—but being tamed by Bu Bugao, a rookie, likely limits his strength.

After all, no matter how Liu Minghao looked at it, Bu Bugao was still a novice.

Bu Bugao nudged Wang Hu with his elbow, and the stoic Wang Hu seemed to remember something: “Wang Hu greets the two seniors.”

“Seniors…”

Liu Minghao shook his head, lowering his opinion of Bu Bugao, then waved, “Alright, greetings are enough, no need for formalities… There are plenty of demons in the Bureau. As long as you behave, we won’t trouble you.”

Bu Bugao nudged him again, and Wang Hu slowly said, “Understood, Senior.”

Unbeknownst to them, Liu Minghao, possibly at the peak of his career, was growing impatient. “That’s enough. I have work to do. You two may handle yourselves.”

With that, Liu Minghao led Wei Zidào into a temporarily vacant office.

Bu Bugao blinked, holding the two gift boxes, frowning. “Shouldn’t this work? I thought gifts and sweet talk would earn favor… Are they the type who live frugally and eat porridge every meal?”

He looked at Wang Hu, then said irritably, “It must be your wooden face!”

“Me?” Wang Hu pointed at himself. “What does that have to do with me?”

“Spirit!” Bu Bugao said seriously. “Your performance lacks soul, no emotion! When you speak, you need to put your soul into it to convey sincerity!”

“Oh.”

Bu Bugao sighed. After some time, he had already gotten used to Wang Hu’s wooden nature… He didn’t expect much.

Wang Hu, looking out the window toward an industrial park, suddenly said, “There’s a strong Demon presence over there.”

Bu Bugao waved it off, “This is True Dragon of Divine Land’s territory. You can run into demons just walking the streets. Nothing strange about it.”

Wang Hu said, “I feel I could spar with the owner of that Demon aura for a while.”

Bu Bugao rolled his eyes. Though Wang Hu claimed he disliked fighting, on the way here he kicked every demon he encountered—almost killing one—and called it “practice.”

“Don’t act recklessly!” Bu Bugao lowered his voice. “Fights in other cities are one thing, but this is Lord Long’s territory… the Bureau doesn’t even station people here. If something happens, they’ll just send someone over casually.”

“Oh.”

At this moment, Liu Minghao and Wei Zidào came out of the office, putting on their coats, apparently heading out. Bu Bugao felt he hadn’t impressed them as a capable new agent and quickly followed them.

“Senior, are you going out?”

“You haven’t left yet…” Liu Minghao frowned. “We still have cases, no time to entertain you. Sorry.”

“Senior!” Bu Bugao eagerly said, “I noticed your furrowed brows when you returned—must be a tough problem. How about this? My assignment period is long, and I have nothing to do right now. Let me help you—it’ll be good experience!”

“You?” Wei Zidào opened his mouth.

Bu Bugao nodded enthusiastically, grabbed Wang Hu, and pointed: “Us!”

After a moment, Liu Minghao nodded. “Alright, you’ll follow us for now.”