Extraordinary Realm from Persuasion System

「The next day, Sunday, 8 a.m.」

He woke up as usual and instinctively clipped his gun to his waist before getting out of bed to wash up.

"Daddy, your son is calling, Daddy, your son is..."

Zhang Beixing's phone, left on the bed, suddenly vibrated. Hearing the noise, Zhang Beixing walked out of the bathroom wearing only boxer shorts.

His cell phone screen still displayed his Douyin personal profile; the video he had posted last night was still under review.

After uploading the video last night, Zhang Beixing had scrolled through his phone, enjoying that dull yet long-missed pastime of scrolling through videos of attractive women, until he slowly drifted off to sleep after receiving a WeChat message from Lin Siqi.

But even by this morning, the video was still under review. Since it hadn't been rejected after so long, he figured it must be fine and just needed more time to pass the approval process.

Zhang Beixing casually switched away from the Douyin interface and picked up his phone, only to discover that the caller had been Lin Siqi.

He called her back immediately and held the phone to his ear.

Soon, Lin Siqi's voice came through the phone.

Zhang Beixing responded while putting on his clothes and quickly headed outside.

Watching Zhang Beixing leave, Jin Linyu turned towards Zheng Jituo, raised an eyebrow, and gossiped, "Jituo, has Lao Zhang gotten together with Sister Qi?"

"Be more confident! It's not a question of 'if'; Lao Zhang *has* gotten together with Sister Qi!" Zheng Jituo declared, lighting a cigarette and taking a deep drag. "I felt something was off between them last week. I thought it would take more time to develop, but damn... Lao Zhang struck gold in silence, took down Sister Qi without a word—truly fucking impressive!"

"No wonder he didn't even respond to the campus belle's confession—so that's what's been going on!"

As he spoke, Zheng Jituo turned to look at Dong Guoning, only to find him frowning at his phone.

A moment later, Dong Guoning brought his mouth close to the microphone and said, "Buddy, please, just try to cheer her up. If she's in a good mood, she'll talk to me."

Seeing him like this, Zheng Jituo's cigarette-holding hand trembled.

He walked over to Dong Guoning and clapped him on the shoulder earnestly. After taking another deep drag from his cigarette, Zheng Jituo said, "Look, Lao Dong, Batman asked me to give you a message. He said he won't beat you up anymore, and you should get back to Gotham ASAP. Here's your ID and a photocopy."

As he said this, Zheng Jituo pulled out the two Joker cards from his pocket and handed them to Dong Guoning.

Dong Guoning was momentarily startled.

...

「Meanwhile.」

Downstairs from the male dormitory, Zhang Beixing hung up the phone and stepped out. As soon as he exited, he saw a pure-looking girl in a white short-sleeved T-shirt and sun hat standing under a tree not far away, waving at him.

Seeing this, Zhang Beixing quickly walked over.

After reaching Lin Siqi, Zhang Beixing looked her up and down. Noticing her light makeup, he couldn't help but compliment her, "Yo, Sister Qi, looking stylish today! And you even put on makeup—beautiful! Didn't you say yesterday you wanted to take me shopping? Where are we going, Beiguo or Wanda Plaza?"

As he spoke, Zhang Beixing rubbed his hands together, his face full of anticipation.

It had been over a month since his rebirth.

This past month, he had basically been cooped up in school every day, training and boxing. Life was incredibly mundane. While a bit of mundanity was fine, it shouldn't be *too* mundane, right? One had to get out, see different sights, and have a change of scenery!

That was why, when Lin Siqi messaged him last night—while he was uploading his video, scrolling through clips of attractive women, and waiting for it to be approved—suggesting they go shopping together, Zhang Beixing had agreed without a second thought.

Hearing Zhang Beixing's words, Lin Siqi tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. She shook her head, a mischievous smile playing on her lips. "Neither. We're not going to Wanda Plaza or Beiguo today."

"Then where? The food street?" Zhang Beixing asked. If it was the food street, that wouldn't be unacceptable. After all, the food in their school cafeteria... well, it was just average. Once you'd eaten it too many times, it lost its appeal; there was no novelty left. An occasional trip to the food street to try new flavors and keep things interesting sounded pretty good.

"No, not there either!" Lin Siqi said, her mischievous smile widening. Then, she revealed the answer, "The place we're going today is the North China Food City on West Second Ring Road!"

"North China Food City?" Zhang Beixing echoed, pausing. Something felt off. Then he thought about it. Dammit! Isn't that just the largest wholesale market in Shishi?

"Sister Qi, when you say 'shopping,' you don't actually mean you're going to stock up on goods, and you called me along to do the heavy lifting, do you?" Zhang Beixing asked, a wary expression on his face now that he'd figured it out.

At his words, Lin Siqi nodded, her eyes crinkling in amusement. "That's right! You're so smart to have seen through it. Now, come along with me!"

"Ah... Can I possibly get out of this? Ouch, I suddenly remembered I haven't brought my laundry in, and my Douyin video hasn't finished uploading. And why do I suddenly feel a bit unwell? It must be because I haven't recovered from yesterday's workout. I really need to rest more today. Sister Qi, maybe we could..." Zhang Beixing hurriedly rattled off excuses, all pointing to one thing: he wasn't going!

Lin Siqi, however, was prepared. She toyed with her hair, feigning distress. "Alright then. Since you're so busy, let's just forget it. I was actually thinking of treating you to hotpot after I finished stocking up. But now it seems..."

"We're going! We absolutely have to go! Sister Qi's business is my business! If Sister Qi has a problem, it's my... uh, anyway, quick question: where are we going for hotpot after we're done?"

"Haidilao! Eat as much as you want, order whatever you like!"

...

Bantering and laughing, Zhang Beixing and Lin Siqi left the campus, hailed a taxi, and headed to North China Food City.

"Still under review? It's probably because of your account's history, right? Just wait a bit longer; it should be fine," Lin Siqi said, helping Zhang Beixing analyze the reasons when she heard on the way that the video he uploaded last night was still pending.

"It could also be that your video content involves high-risk behavior. That would also trigger a manual review, just like how you often see videos flagged with a 'Risky, do not imitate' warning. It's the same principle."

"I see. I checked on Baidu, and it should get approved by today at the latest," Zhang Beixing replied.

They chatted idly, enjoying their trip off campus, completely unaware that just as they got into their taxi, the window of a Mercedes-Benz parked by the road slowly rolled down.

A young man, who bore a strong resemblance to Lin Siqi, took out his phone. He looked at a photo on the screen, then at Zhang Beixing.

Once he was sure, a flash of anger crossed his eyes! It was this man! The one who had, for no reason at all, caused him to be detained at the police station for over ten days!

"So, you think you're tough, huh? Let's see if you can still fight this time!" the young man snarled. "Follow them! I'm going to teach this busybody a lesson today!" he instructed the driver.

The driver acknowledged and floored the accelerator. The Mercedes-Benz sped off, closely tailing the taxi carrying Zhang Beixing and Lin Siqi towards North China Food City.

「Thirty minutes later, at the East Entrance of North China Food City.」

Zhang Beixing and Lin Siqi got out of the car and were about to go inside.

But for some reason, Zhang Beixing suddenly shuddered, the hairs on his arms standing on end. He felt a vague, unsettling premonition and turned his head to look.

He saw a tall man wearing sunglasses, flanked by a burly man, slowly walking towards them from behind.

Seeing them, Zhang Beixing's brow furrowed. Instinctively, he reached out and pulled Lin Siqi behind him.

Just then, the man in sunglasses spoke, "You must be Zhang Beixing! Heh, you finally decided to come out of Shi University. You sure made me wait a long time!"

Hearing the man in sunglasses, Zhang Beixing was puzzled. He observed the man carefully, certain he didn't recognize him.

After a moment's thought, he tentatively asked, "Excuse me, are you looking for me? Do you need something?"

"Need something? Heh, of course, I do! Do you remember Dong Shengjie and the four men you, disguised as a security guard, had sent to the police?"

As soon as these words were spoken, the expressions on Zhang Beixing's and Lin Siqi's faces changed abruptly.

As the ones directly involved in that incident, they certainly remembered Dong Shengjie. Even now, they still occasionally discussed who might have sent Dong Shengjie and his men to cause trouble for Lin Siqi, but they had come up with no answers. They never anticipated that today, the instigator would actually show up on their own.

Trouble's coming, and it's damn big trouble!