"No need. If you really did that, everyone in Mad King Building would be insane." Xu Lang replied.

Have I been lying flat for too long?

Since when did Zhen Lu and the others get so extreme?

Back when he thought of it, Zhen Lu was still just a girl coaxed by her best friend into becoming a tenant, her frail air hiding a thread of tenacity, like a fawn discovered by hunters.

And now…

Ah, times have changed!

"Fine, okay then." Zhen Lu sighed.

She thought it over and felt that doing that might be bad, an easy way to alienate everyone.

"Lang Ge, now that we have Terror Force, I'll go reinforce the spirit fields. This is an output investment, definitely worth it!" Zhen Lu was enthusiastic about it, practically the druid of Demon King Castle.

"Go ahead, go ahead. Focus on reinforcing the seven plots planted with Dreamlike Night-Blooming Cereus, don't mess around."

"Got it!"

"……"

At lunch today, everyone at Demon King Castle gathered.

In fact, ever since the women received the Chosen One status, there had been more to do, and few were seriously lying flat with Xu Lang.

No choice — with so many resources at hand, failing to develop would be downright wasteful.

For example, Tong Qi was all about cultivation, Wang Yazhi split between cultivation and pioneering, Cao Yaxuan dabbled a bit in both… The ones who stayed home year-round were only Xu Xiaomeng, Sherry, and Gu Ya.

"Ruyan, could you stop using that face? It's weird to look at." Gu Ya set down her utensils and stared at Xu Ruyan.

She clenched her fist several times before finally summoning the courage to say it.

"I want a bit more time to adapt." Xu Ruyan shrugged, "Playing someone else is actually pretty fun."

Right now she looked exactly like Joson, down to the voice.

"I bet you can't turn into White-Silk Red Butterfly." Xu Lang coughed and said.

The women were speechless; that was an old provocation tactic.

"Okay, any intel you dug out from Joson?" Xu Lang asked, turning the topic.

At Xu Ruyan's request, he had given her an information-gathering skill.

It was decent quality — legendary.

"Yes!" Xu Ruyan's spirit brightened, "I was just about to tell you this. Hunter Building is leveling up to thirty!"

"That's a thing?" Cao Yaxuan was instantly surprised.

"Did they invite Mad King Building to the ceremony?" Xu Xiaomeng complained.

Xu Ruyan rolled her eyes, "Of course not. Also, Joson acted alone this time and made use of some facility inside Hunter Building. I think killing Joson was a bit premature. We should have let him bring the magic box curse back to Hunter Building."

Hunter Building was almost level thirty, so they must have countermeasures.

However, Hunter Building players were like bandits; they would easily spread a curse to other dormitories.

"What a pity." Cao Yaxuan sounded a bit regretful.

In the urgency of the moment they hadn't thought it through.

Xu Lang tapped the table and asked in a low voice, "Can you confirm whether, after coming to Mad King Building, a Hunter Building player can return to Hunter Building?"

He was personally very curious about Hunter Building.

"The remnants of his memory didn't specify that, but he dropped some spoils. I think they're useful." Xu Ruyan produced several items.

One item was called a false-name ID, which when worn allowed editing of identity information.

Name and Experience could be faked!

Xu Lang scanned the spoils and his interest in Hunter Building immediately increased.

After thinking for a moment, he said, "Do we have any former Hunter Building players here? I want to ask someone a few things."

Sherry rattled off like reciting treasures:

"None officially, because players who used to be in Hunter Building won't admit it."

"First, Hunter Building players have a bad reputation."

"Second, they fear retribution from Hunter Building players."

Mad King Castle already possessed a fair amount of Hunter Building intelligence.

No wonder — Hunter Building was simply too notorious.

Yet genuinely useful information was nearly nonexistent; Hunter players guarded their intel carefully. Joson exposed his true self as soon as he opened up, intending to intimidate. Most Hunter players wouldn't do that.

Thus Joson gained some fame, but the truly skilled Hunter players were silent outside the circle, at most known by a single alias.

"There's definitely a former Hunter Building player in our dorm. I'll send a message now and see if someone comes." Cao Yaxuan said confidently.

Xu Lang paused, then said, "I'll do it."

He needed a way to counter Hunter Building, otherwise their random raids would become pretty annoying.

……

Half an hour later, a sullen-faced man in an old-fashioned trench coat rode the elevator up to the twentieth floor, accompanied by seven lackeys — quite an entourage.

The Oak Door of Demon King Castle opened. Mary welcomed the sullen man into the front hall and left his seven underlings outside, nervously waiting.

"Lord Sheng Qi, you don't need to be nervous. This is a friendly conversation." Mary exchanged pleasantries, easing the man's tension.

"The air here is so refreshing…" Sheng Qi stepped onto the mycelial carpet and felt the tightness in his pores loosen under this air, an odd calming that softened his mood.

Mary smiled, spotting that Sheng Qi was still anxious, and fell silent.

On the sofa, Xu Lang sat composed, waiting.

A gentle smile hung on his face, but Sheng Qi saw it and felt his scalp crawl; this kind of smiling tiger was the most terrifying, capable of ruthless killing yet warm and congenial.

"Greetings, Dorm Owner." Sheng Qi gave a slight nod. His tone was stiff, as if he were not skilled at small talk.

Xu Lang smiled, "Have a seat. I have a few questions for you."

"I will speak frankly and exhaustively!" Sheng Qi answered seriously.

"Why did you not declare you were a former Hunter Building player when you registered?" Xu Lang started with some pressure.

"I still had reservations, so I lied about my background." Sheng Qi explained simply, neither defending nor apologizing.

Before coming to Demon King Castle, he had undergone a psychological profile by Xu Lang: a young man with antisocial tendencies, cold and remorseless, mentally unstable.

When dealing with someone like this, do not waste words.

Answer the questions and be done.

"Why reveal your identity now?"

"I want to become a committee member!"

After Mad King Building leaped levels, the community committee was reorganized and renamed the Mad King Neighborhood Committee, with membership capped at thirty.

This change followed the trend; most dormitory management bodies were called neighborhood committees these days — no one remembered where the naming trend started.

Half the committee seats were filled by Demon King Castle members; the rest were dorm leaders like Wu Huihui, Li Shuwen, and others — plus Zhang Dahai, Su Yuan, Zhou Ye, and Wang Lie.

Although Sheng Qi had unified the sixteenth floor, he had no committee seat or official recognition. His authority was vulnerable to challenge and likely to attract official pushback, not to mention his inability to access committee resources.

Zhang Sanfeng faced the same situation.

Xu Lang continued to ask Sheng Qi questions, all related to Hunter Building.

Sheng Qi clearly understood his predicament; once a Mad King Building player, there was no going back. He answered everything truthfully, leaving no traps.

After entering Demon King Castle, he dared not imagine how many reconnaissance skills were watching him.

Lying now would be suicide.

Mary attended closely by his side, genuinely observing Sheng Qi's micro-expressions.

Sheng Qi had left Hunter Building three game cycles ago. Though he couldn't provide the latest intelligence, he could sketch an outline for Xu Lang.