From this perspective, this atmosphere might continue until after the New Year.

Compared to the rarely free artists, Duanmu Huai, who usually enjoys a leisurely life, is now busy.

Normally, apart from filming and attending school, Duanmu Huai’s daily routine consists of eating, watching TV, and playing on his phone. But now, Ruby is experiencing his daily life while Duanmu leaves right after breakfast, only returning at night, almost like a nine-to-eight office worker.

It shows that no money is taken for nothing.

Today is no different.

"I’m back."

Duanmu Huai opened the door weakly and greeted, soon hearing footsteps as Hei Chuan Chi Yin walked over with a smile, watching Duanmu Huai.

"You’re back, Ai. Would you like to take a bath first or have dinner?"

"I’ll take a bath. I’m exhausted from running around all day..."

Duanmu Huai waved his hand.

"Is Mai cooking today?"

"Yes, I’ve already prepared the hot water."

"Thank you..."

Since Hei Chuan Chi Yin moved next door to Duanmu Huai, the two would visit Duanmu’s house daily. In the morning, they’d wake Duanmu and Ruby, and in the evening, after dinner, they’d return home to sleep. Honestly, Duanmu felt buying the house was a waste, as it was only used for sleeping.

By the way, for convenience, Duanmu gave them both keys to his house, allowing them to visit anytime.

If Duanmu’s house wasn’t a typical three-bedroom apartment with no guest room, the two might just stay over instead of going home at night.

Speaking of which, for Duanmu and Ruby, it was both painful and joyful.

The joy is easy to understand; Duanmu is lazy about cooking, while Ruby wants to learn but is too busy with idol work. Before Sakurajima Mai arrived, they’d mostly rely on takeout and dining out. As Duanmu is an actor and Ruby is an idol, money isn’t an issue. They can eat whatever they want, be it Western, Chinese, Spanish, Indian, or Brazilian cuisine. Sometimes they’d even use a random selection method, picking a restaurant randomly from their phone to eat at.

Well, it’s true that those who can’t cook know how to have fun.

Since Sakurajima Mai and Hei Chuan Chi Yin joined, Duanmu and Ruby’s good times... came to an end.

Not that their cooking tasted bad. Whether Sakurajima Mai or Hei Chuan Chi Yin, their culinary skills were top-notch. Not quite Michelin chef level, but certainly delicious to Duanmu and Ruby’s tastes.

Initially, they’d simply praise their cooking as delicious.

And thus, the nightmare began.

If today Duanmu and Ruby praised Hei Chuan Chi Yin, tomorrow they’d face a feast from Sakurajima Mai.

If they praised Sakurajima Mai, Hei Chuan Chi Yin would up the ante the next day.

Though Duanmu and Ruby had no idea what these two were competing about, they were the unlucky ones!

After a few runs of this, they learned to say it’s tasty without going overboard — otherwise, they’d upset their stomachs.

"Whew..."

Lying in the bathtub, Duanmu Huai sighed.

Recently, he’s been extremely busy, as the curse masters have begun to act swiftly as he anticipated. Since Tianyuan and the Barrier are top secrets in the magic world, only a few curse masters know about them. And the radiation effect of Tianyuan was only known by those along with Duanmu and the three special grade curse masters.

Thus, when these curse masters discovered their strength inexplicably weakened, their first instinct was to do whatever they could to increase their power!

The most simple and direct way: murder!

Suddenly, reports of disappearances or accidental deaths surged everywhere.

In response, Duanmu had been prepared. He immediately ordered local curse masters to investigate the matter and, upon finding curse masters, to kill them on sight!

By the way, the new magic organization is divided into frontline and logistics groups. The logistics are mainly handled by auxiliary supervisors, but their duties have shifted from pre-scouting to post-processing — since against curse masters, non-combat auxiliary supervisors are meaningless.

So now, curse masters are investigating, fighting curse masters, and killing them. Then the logistics group, managed by auxiliary supervisors, will handle curse master corpses thereafter, listing them as "missing."

Although curse masters are greatly weakened now, curse masters face similar situations too.

Thus, the former expert duel at Forbidden Peak turned into a chicken fight, with painful outcomes.

After all, a level 10 character’s skills completely differ from a level 60 character’s.

Presently, for both curse and curse masters, it’s as if a level 60 player uses a level 10 character for a tournament, and the fighting is extremely challenging. Damage numbers have dropped from five digits to two, barely as effective as breaking skin.

Thankfully, compared to curse masters, curse masters have a trump card!

That, of course, is Duanmu!

And so Duanmu has exhausted himself, rushing to put out fires everywhere. Thankfully, he is strong enough to deal with any enemy with one strike; otherwise, who knows what would happen.

"Anyway, it’s almost over."

Duanmu stretched his arms and relaxed his fatigue. Though incidents have recently increased significantly, everyone knew those cultists were causing chaos everywhere, so they were quite vigilant. Of course, there were complaints, but after the many deaths in Shibuya, people were wary of saying too much.

Fortunately, curse master case numbers have decreased lately, suggesting most have likely been dealt with while the remaining ones are harmless.

Next, Duanmu could tackle the most crucial problem.

Previously, Duanmu had received a call from Director Qingshui. According to the plan, the movie is confirmed for a global release next summer.

Meaning, his day to destroy the subspace isn’t far off!

After that, what might happen?

Thinking about it, Duanmu touched his chin, deep in thought.

Could it... really be, like that GM said, will he really have to stay a thousand years?

This is endless!

Forget it, I’ll know when the time comes.

Problems he can’t resolve, Duanmu never dwelt on them. Just then, Hei Chuan Chi Yin’s voice came from outside.

"Ai, it’s almost time to eat."

"Got it."

Duanmu responded, then stood up.

Quoting Banai’s phrase, with things as they are, let’s eat first!