My Misfortune Crushed Instances-Chapter 42: Li Rui’s Bullying

How did Wang Ba find out about Li Rui’s achievements in the Secret Realm?

Because He Chengli had just come out of the Secret Realm and, without even unfastening the protective buckle on the chair, started praising Li Rui fervently in front of his mom, Yun Jiaying, and his grandpa, Commissioner Hee.

To be honest, this kid’s abilities aren’t bad. His leadership and decisiveness in critical moments since entering the Dungeon clearly show he is not someone who looks down on others, but he seldom genuinely recognizes others in his heart.

However, now he was praising someone he had only met once without reservation, which left the two elders astonished.

It wasn’t until He Chengli finished talking about the hidden ending, his own level, and other gains that they understood the source of these feelings.

Commissioner Hee was, of course, very satisfied. His grandson went in at level 9 and came out at level 11, even obtaining rare skill points. This was an overachievement, and it’s safe to say that due to this Secret Realm, He Chengli’s potential as a Secret Realm agent has been significantly increased.

So he immediately made a call to Song Yao, the president of Donglin Province, expressing his gratitude.

With the commissioner satisfied, gaining resource preference in the future would obviously be easier, so Song Yao was also quite pleased.

Thus, he immediately called Wu Mengying to express his commendations.

Wu Mengying’s future was closely tied to Song Yao’s attitude, so with his satisfaction, she too was very pleased.

So she immediately called Wang Ba, explicitly stating the need to emphasize praise and rewards and even made an exception for Li Rui to choose an eternal item that wasn’t soul-bound from the inventory.

However, by the time Brother Ba drove over to Guotong Mansion from senior citizen college, he found that Li Rui had already slipped away.

He didn’t quite understand.

Having completed the hidden ending, earned skill points, and with He Chengli leveling up twice, Li Rui’s harvest must not have been small. Yet at such a moment, he remained calm and left without saying a word.

.....

Li Rui was rushing to the "old place" he had agreed upon with Zheng Hao.

The urgent matter he mentioned was actually celebrating a birthday for a good friend.

Since his parents’ accident in elementary school, he had become an orphan, always protecting himself with a tough exterior. Although he wasn’t unpopular, he had few real friends, with Zheng Hao certainly being the best one among them.

For him, promotion in the organization, record-breaking honors, and rewards were all important, but there were other matters even more significant.

Just as he walked into the hotel private room, he heard the guys loudly heckling.

"Li Rui is late, penalty drink!"

Though that’s what they said, Zheng Hao and the gang knew their limits. While they called for a penalty, they didn’t force the three shots of hard liquor; instead, they just brought out a half-filled beer glass, more symbolic than anything.

Li Rui was thirsty from the rush and drank it.

"I say, President Li, what are you busy with all day? You even show up late on Old Zheng’s big day."

"Oh, shut up! What big day, I don’t even have a partner to celebrate with."

The group joked around, not realizing that Li Rui had actually skipped out on a meeting with a higher-level organization than the city police department, and that he was just a few minutes late.

After the cake, candles, and birthday song, the rituals were over, and the guys began chatting.

Zheng Hao was the main character and naturally chatty, even more so now.

"Let me tell you guys something, and don’t let it out of this room."

He spoke mysteriously, "There’s something mysterious happening over at Celestial King Town, it happened last month."

"Huh? What kind of mysterious event?"

"No idea, it’s supernatural stuff—I eavesdropped on my dad’s phone call and guessed."

Zheng Hao and Li Rui were best friends because they had known each other for a long time. Why? Because Li Rui was often taken care of, and occasionally disciplined by Wang Huai when he was a child, being a frequent visitor to the police station.

And Zheng’s father worked at the city bureau and graduated from police academy at the same time as Wang Huai, so they met often. Over time, Little Li and Little Zheng got to know each other. Their fathers’ identities also influenced their choice of studying law-related fields.

So now, when he said he eavesdropped on his dad’s conversation, it had some credibility.

However....

"Come on, it’s probably just some exercise or they’re catching fugitives."

"Exactly, a college student acting all mysterious."

Everyone scoffed at the notion.

Feeling unsupported, Zheng Hao shifted his gaze to his close friend: "Hey Li Rui, you haven’t said anything. Do you believe me?"

"Uh... well, I think maybe you misunderstood."

Li Rui could only lie against his conscience; he couldn’t admit there were really supernatural events in the mountains.

Zheng Hao, dissatisfied with the lack of support, insisted, "I really heard it. When Dad was saying it, he was being secretive. He doesn’t usually act like that on duty. I won’t say the exact words, but he’s definitely suggesting there’s something in the mountains. So what could it be?"

Li Rui sheepishly said, "Uh, an Ultraman maybe?"

"Hahaha."

The room erupted in laughter.

.....

The next day, on the 10th floor of Guotong Mansion.

"You brat! You ran off right after coming out of the Secret Realm, and it was to celebrate someone’s birthday?"

Wang Ba had no ill temper; since everything turned out beautifully, he couldn’t really scold him.

Li Rui wasn’t oblivious, quickly soothing him: "No, no, Brother Ba, I thought He Chengli that kid could explain it. Just this once, I promise."

All Wang Ba wanted was the right attitude. Seeing this kid humble himself, he felt a sense of team leadership authority and said a few standard phrases before changing tact: "Based on He Chengli’s recount, I’ve written the report. Check it for any issues. If there are none, I’ll file it."

Li Rui took the freshly printed stack of A4 sheets and quickly browsed through, nodding: "No problem."

He was a bit surprised that He Chengli had described everything in such detail; the report was full of specifics, suggesting that the oral account likely repeated his every word.

He wasn’t wrong.

A crazy fanboy is just that passionate.

However, there were still things He Chengli didn’t know.

"Brother Ba, there’s one more thing I think I should tell you."

"What’s that?" Wang Ba wasn’t too concerned, working on stapling the report by his side.

"Um, after defeating the ghost boss, I received a long-term quest."

"Oh? Long-term quests are good. They usually offer pretty decent rewards, but as the name implies, they tend to have a long process."

"Yes, aren’t you curious about what the reward is?" 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

Wang Ba laughed and said: "You brat want to, uh, what’s the term you young folks use, ’show superiority’, right? Let me tell you, Brother Ba here has also completed a long-term quest and got an epic set piece, so don’t try to outshine me."

"So, do you want me to continue?"

"Go on."

"The reward is a mythical skill."

"Oh."

Wang Ba, like a robot, froze in place, expressionless, as he took out his phone and dialed a number.

"Hello, Chairman Wu, I want to lodge a complaint. Li Rui’s bullying me!"