Huh? Isn't This A Galgame?
Chapter 132 - 129: Something’s Not Right!

Erin Group Employee Dormitory, refresh point.

Yang Mingzhong was lying alone on a single sofa in the living room, mindlessly scrolling through short videos.

Not far from him, Hu Jiayao was lying sideways on another three-seater sofa, with his feet up, seriously kneading a "welfare tool" in his hand, producing a weird "plop plop" sound.

Beside him, Gu Jinxing was sitting upright, earnestly studying the top-secret file they brought from the secret laboratory, and a notebook.

The content of that notebook was very simple, like a diary, or simple work records, with only a few sentences per page, accompanied by illustrations drawn by a "soul artist", such as——

[July 20, Cloudy turning to light rain.

Today I saw a little piglet Mi, chubby.

← From now on, you will be called Mi Xiaoxiao, hehe.]

[August 10, Sunny.

Summer is here, and I saw a rhinoceros beetle on the tree downstairs.

← From now on, you will be called Jiao Dada, hehe.]

[September 13, Cloudy turning to thunderstorms.

Saw a little gecko hiding from the rain in the corner of the wall.

← From now on, you will be called Tiger Brother, haha.]

...

The entire notebook was filled with such rambling records, with the dates jumping around, about one or two entries per month, totaling just over twenty pages. Gu Jinxing finished flipping through it in a few minutes.

After that, Gu Jinxing focused solely on the confidential file.

He read the file's contents from start to finish, confirming that it recorded all the product design specifications that Erin Group was either developing or preparing to develop.

There were many technical terms; he checked them one by one using the system, slogging through the contents as if reading a scientific paper.

After skimming through the last lengthy appendix, Gu Jinxing rubbed his sore neck, stood up, and stretched.

"All done?" Hu Jiayao jumped up from the sofa and approached, "How is it? Found anything?"

Gu Jinxing shook his head, "It's a very legitimate internal product design specification. I didn't find any clues, nor did I see any hidden codes or anything like that."

Upon hearing this, Hu Jiayao deflated like a punctured balloon, slumping back onto the sofa, sighing deeply, "Oh, what a waste of effort."

Gu Jinxing thought to himself, it's my effort being wasted, weren't you just kneading dough nearby the whole time?

"It's not entirely fruitless," Gu Jinxing pushed the file towards Hu Jiayao, "I can confirm that this file is made from a very special material, making it extremely hard to destroy."

"Really?"

Hearing this, Hu Jiayao's interest was piqued again. He picked up the file, pinched a corner, and found it truly couldn't be torn.

Gu Jinxing chuckled, "Don't even think about tearing it by hand. I tried scissors and a lighter; it can't be cut and won't burn through."

Hu Jiayao widened his eyes, looking at Gu Jinxing incredulously, "You... damn... this important item is all we're relying on to complete this main task! The settlement time hasn't even arrived yet, and you dare to use scissors and a lighter on it?! What if it gets damaged and the system doesn't acknowledge the completion? What will you do then?!"

Gu Jinxing, however, had a confident expression, "Relax, my judgment is usually accurate, and I wouldn't randomly destroy such a crucial item without absolute certainty. Besides, I've already tested it; if you don't believe me, I'll burn it for you now."

As he spoke, Gu Jinxing took out a lighter, reaching to burn the file.

Hu Jiayao jumped up in panic, like a mother hen protecting her chicks, clutching the file to his chest, "Okay, okay, I believe you, I believe you! Before the official settlement, you're not allowed to touch this file again!"

Gu Jinxing helplessly shook his head, put away the lighter, leaned back on the sofa, and once again admired the "soul artist's" masterpiece in the notebook.

As dawn broke, Huang Yan and Guo Xiaofu returned one after the other.

The two took out the tools and equipment they had collected and shared amusing incidents encountered during their map-scanning endeavors, making the room lively like a student dormitory in spring.

When the sun was fully up, Wen Nan returned, right on time.

Everyone in the room simultaneously looked towards the door, then stood up at the same time.

"President!"

"Boss!"

Wen Nan was still immersed in the tender moment with Qiqi and was startled wide awake by this scene.

At this moment, the countdown for settlement started flashing its red warning lights overhead.

[00:00:10——]

[00:00:09——]

...

[00:00:01——]

[Now entering main task settlement time]

[All participants, please get into position]

[Player Huang Yan, please confirm your identity]

Huang Yan glanced at the screen and then looked at Gu Jinxing and Hu Jiayao for help, "Guys, can I use that item for a bit?"

However, before he could finish his sentence, the prompts on the screen changed——

[Due to the uniqueness of this main task's key item - the causative focus - it cannot be evenly distributed to all participants. Therefore, simply finding the item is considered successful without needing to pick it up or scan it]

[Search results for the key item detected and confirmed to be shared!]

"This time, no scanning of the key item?" Huang Yan sighed in relief, withdrew his hand, and stood calmly beneath the screen, waiting for his settlement results.

Then, the settlement board appeared on the screen——

[Player Huang Yan, the settlement status for this main task is as follows:

Completion Status: Completed;

Task Score: 60 points;

Task Rating: Average;

Extra Rewards: None;

Selection Target: None (Soul Puppet has been transferred);

Target Strategy Level: NA;

Live Stream Popularity Settlement: 42,786 Gold Coins;

Live Stream Betting Settlement: 36,397 Gold Coins;

Live Stream Tip Settlement: 2,500 Gold Coins;

Account Balance: 0 Gold Coins (all transferred to the Wenna Guild account).]

Huang Yan left his position beneath the screen satisfied, leaving the settlement spot for the next player.

All the members of the Wenna Guild completed their settlements one by one.

As expected, Huang Yan, Guo Xiaofu, and Yang Mingzhong, who piggybacked to complete the task, all scraped by with passing grades, and the Gold Coins from the live stream were all transferred to the guild account.

Meanwhile, Gu Jinxing received a task score of 75 points for "assisting in the search for a key item".

Hu Jiayao received the highest score for this settlement—79 points—for "outstanding contribution in the search for a key item".

Like the other three players who piggybacked on the task, Wen Nan only scored 60 points, just passing.

Looking at the settlement results, Wen Nan's expression grew serious.

Something's not right...

Something feels off!