How on earth can I deal with the Contract Goddess?
Lying in bed, Song Wuli mulled over some of the world’s most difficult problems.
That woman knows the future—not because she possesses some ability to foresee it, but because she’s already lived through it and thus knows how the story unfolds.
How do you deal with someone who knows the future?
And besides foreseeing the future, there are even more troublesome issues.
The Contract Goddess’s words kept echoing in Song Wuli’s mind, as if a tape recorder were on repeat inside his head.
Now he understood why the Contract Goddess let Yin Lin know part of the truth even though they’d only met a few times.
It was all so Song Wuli would remember every word the Contract Goddess said and could repeat them to the next Yin Lin in the future.
If Song Wuli hadn’t known the truth, maybe he would have just let some things go in one ear and out the other, hearing it once and forgetting it.
But after knowing the truth, he would unconsciously make an effort to remember those statements, and even if he couldn’t recall every single word, he could at least grasp the gist of it.
He sensed the Contract Goddess was using hypnotic suggestion, subtly influencing Yin Lin.
So, how can he counter all the little tricks the Contract Goddess uses to manipulate people’s minds?
That woman really is full of tricks—a true schemer.
Song Wuli tossed and turned in bed, unable to fall asleep.
He got up, turned on his computer, and started looking up information.
He originally wanted to research [Foreseeing the Future]; he even typed it out, but in the end, deleted it and didn’t pursue it any further.
Now isn’t the time.
Instead, he searched for information on hypnosis and PUA.
After distilling all the fluff from various academic papers and science blogs, he learned that as long as one’s willpower is strong and stubborn enough, one can resist hypnotic suggestions.
This becomes more apparent with age—a conclusion Song Wuli came across in one of the papers.
The younger someone is, the more malleable they are, and the more likely they are to be influenced by different opinions.
As people grow older, their worldview becomes more stable, and they’re not so easily swayed.
For example, some people playing MOBA games will always build Mercurial Shoes, Zhonya, and Banshee—no matter if they’re winning or losing, no matter who the opponent is, no matter how many people are flaming them, even if the King of Heaven himself showed up, it would still be these three items.
Or, take those who are superstitious—no matter how much you talk to them about physics and chemistry, no matter how clearly you explain human composition or the structure of galaxies, they firmly believe there is a Celestial Court in the clouds and are devout in their belief in spirits and deities.
There’s simply no way to change their worldview—they have a buff that makes them immune to certain negative effects, and they just can’t be persuaded.
Song Wuli felt he needed to strengthen this.
The fact that he could sense the Contract Goddess’s hypnosis was proof his willpower was working.
At thirty-four, his worldview was pretty entrenched, so when the Contract Goddess tried to change it, there was naturally some resistance, maybe even subconscious self-protection.
.
After figuring out why he was growing to dislike the Contract Goddess more and more, Song Wuli could finally get some decent sleep.
That night, he had a dream—in the dream, he became the Contract Goddess, with Octopus Bro on his left and the Tree Spirit on his right, playing a very questionable game of Dou Dizhu together.
He suddenly woke up, drenched in cold sweat.
After realizing it was just a dream, he drifted off again, this time dreaming of Lüyè, Huanhong, and Jinluan.
They just happened to make a table to play a very questionable game of strip mahjong on the roof of a skyscraper.
He was about to win—in the South 4th round, he was in first place.
But somehow he couldn’t keep his mouth shut and taunted Lüyè, who was left only in her underwear.
Let’s just say the soul of the bratty little girl was strong—Lüyè made a full character flush, and a Little Four Winds targeting Yin Lin, scoring a double Yakuman reversal.
Looking at Lüyè’s crazed eyes glued to him, Old Song woke up with a start once more.
His pillow was drenched.
Finally, he moved to the couch and fell asleep in an awkward position until morning.
Today was Friday, a work day.
The subway should’ve been a bit emptier—now that Summer Break had started, there were fewer students crowding the train.
But instead, the subway was filled with a different kind of chaos; students who couldn’t bring their phones to class during the school year were now free to play on them during Summer Break.
The train was flooded with loud phone speakers, blasting all kinds of “laughter effects” everyone was sick of hearing.
There were also all sorts of sound effects from mobile games doing daily quests.
Song Wuli sighed, silently praying for a world without Summer Break, wishing kids had to go to school every day.
If Old Song ever became mayor, the first thing he’d do is abolish Summer Break.
He endured the whole ride, finally arriving at his stop.
As he stepped out of the train, he noticed that his fellow commuters all wore looks of relief—everyone had suffered through the same ordeal.
Outside the subway station, he breathed in some fresh air and suddenly noticed a familiar figure.
It was a man driving a black sedan—none other than Song Wuli’s old acquaintance, Huang Yijun.
The car paused at the intersection, waiting at the light.
Song Wuli noticed a burly man in the back seat, also familiar—it was the Content Department Director.
When the light turned green, the car drove off.
What were they up to?
Though he was curious, Song Wuli didn’t feel comfortable asking.
He guessed they were probably off negotiating some business deal; after all, they’re directors, not the kind who sit in the office clocking in and out every day.
Arriving at work, Song Wuli found the office unusually quiet—it felt odd not having Huang Yijun around to chat with.
Today was just another ordinary day.
No surprises at work, and nothing unexpected in Yiri City.
As usual, monsters at the borders tried to break through—one low-level and one mid-level aberration entered the outskirts.
[The Failure Squad is on the move! Any monster that steps into Yiri City, no matter how far, the Failure Squad will hunt them down!]
Just like always, the Failure Squad mobilized to engage the two monsters.
Every now and then, Song Wuli would take a break and check the news.
[Two monsters driven out to the outskirts by the Failure Squad]
[Low-level monster badly injured by the Failure Squad]
[Under the Failure Squad’s firepower, no monster will escape justice]
[A one-sided slaughter—both monsters about to be eliminated by the Failure Squad]
[Monster giving victory speech]
Old Song sighed. After this, there was nothing left but self-media coverage.
He worked for another half hour, then browsed his phone again.
As expected, there was an update from Liang Tai—he’d arrived at the scene and was live-streaming Magical Girls Huanhong and Jinluan fighting together.
Huanhong was handling the low-level monster, Jinluan was taking on the mid-level one; the two worked together with perfect coordination.
The Magical Girls were brimming with youth and energy, fighting Little Monsters in their pretty skirts, occasionally flashing some skin or striking a cute pose, giving the audience quite an eyeful and a real treat.
Twenty minutes later, the monsters were defeated.
Huanhong even gave Liang Tai a brief interview, while Jinluan wasn’t so enthusiastic—she left right after beating the Little Monster and didn’t like talking to people.
Song Wuli couldn’t help but sigh—such peaceful times!
With Summer Break here, even the Magical Girls were becoming more active. For the next two months, the monsters would probably be hunted down by Huanhong and Jinluan until they couldn’t lift their heads.
Old Song sat in the office, enjoying the air conditioning, sipping coffee, watching Magical Girls fight Little Monsters for world peace—a simple pleasure.
Unfortunately, Old Song’s fun was short-lived—Huang Yi’s message ruined it.
He sent word, arranging a real-world meeting with the Jin, Yin, and Hong sisters, scheduled for tonight.
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