The final day of Wang Zhifan's job was quite different from what he expected. Instead of encountering any bosses or special events, he and Chu Wei were particularly busy.

The two of them worked nonstop, clearing three Gray Realms from morning till evening, and they still had to work the night shift to clear the fourth Gray Realm. It could be said that this was Wang Zhifan's most exhausting day since joining the cleanup team. Chu Wei wasn't wrong when she mentioned that the task she informed him about in the morning was quite heavy.

At this time, night had already fallen. Wang Zhifan and Chu Wei took the agency's special car and arrived at an unnamed lake outside Dongjiang City, ready to tackle the last task of the day.

The last Gray Realm to be cleaned up was located in the unnamed lake. Since there were few residents in the area, nobody was particularly clear how long it had been there. Allegedly, it was first discovered and reported by someone who came here to fish.

"Fan, if we push a little harder and clear this Gray Realm, we can get off work. Once it's done, you'll be completely free."

After getting off the special car and arriving by the lake, the two, wearing headlamps, stepped onto a small wooden boat prepared by someone earlier. As they paddled closer to the gray area appearing abruptly in the lake within the range of the headlamp's light, Chu Wei, looking evidently tired, joked to Wang Zhifan, who was rowing ahead.

"I don't really care."

Wang Zhifan responded indifferently to Chu Wei's remark behind him,

"On the contrary, what about you? Are you going to clean four Gray Realms by yourself every day? That'd be exhausting."

Due to his exceptionally high physical fitness, Wang Zhifan wasn't really tired even after today's busy schedule. However, he noticed Chu Wei's situation and knew that this Level 7 summoning-type female player was quite worn out. It wasn't her fault—the workload was truly overwhelming.

"Cleaning four Gray Realms by myself every day? Impossible... I'm not crazy about making money."

Chu Wei was speechless in response to Wang Zhifan's words.

"If they don't assign me a suitable teammate from above, I definitely won't work. I'm not made of steel."

She affirmed with a very certain tone.

"Good to know."

Wang Zhifan nodded as he heard, then continued to ask:

"Have Gray Realms been appearing more frequently recently? Is that why we're getting busier?"

"Yes."

Chu Wei promptly confirmed the question.

"Gray Realms have shown a pattern of explosive growth recently. The cleanup teams in the bureau are completely overwhelmed, but things should get better over time because the authorities have decided to fully disclose our player community to the society. They will also recruit players nationwide by distributing job cards for free to willing and potential individuals. It's anticipated that the number of players in our country will soon experience a boom, and we'll surely get new manpower assigned to our cleanup teams."

"There's such a thing? It seems the pressure from above is quite intense. I thought this semi-public status would continue indefinitely."

Having said that, Wang Zhifan and Chu Wei paddled their small boat into the grayness ahead, and their surroundings instantly transformed from a night-lit lake to a mountain with pits and mounds under dark skies. On the mountain, there were many objects resembling stone people running around.

But the two were already accustomed to such scenes in the Gray Realm and quickly jumped off the wooden boat below them onto the barren mountain. Wang Zhifan drew his sword ahead, while Chu Wei summoned her ghost baby for battle.

After many days of collaboration, the two had achieved flawless teamwork. In combat, they didn't need verbal communication to be perfectly synchronized in their cleanup work. This silent combat method was also their way to concentrate and conserve energy in a fatigued state.

However, before they took down even a tenth of the monsters in this Gray Realm, an unusual phenomenon suddenly occurred.

The cloudy sky above them suddenly transformed into a black expanse, accompanied by the sound of water rushing against stone nearby. With the sound, a lot of moisture surged onto the barren mountain where they stood, making their faces feel slightly damp.

"Why did it suddenly go dark?"

At this moment, Wang Zhifan first sliced a stone monster charging at him into two halves. Then, he slightly turned his head to inquire from Chu Wei, who was behind him controlling the ghost baby ahead. This teammate, trained by official teachers, knew far more than him about the various phenomena in Gray Realms.

"This Gray Realm has solidified; it has already become part of the real world."

Chu Wei's tired voice quickly came from behind. She continued speaking while controlling the ghost baby in front against the stone monsters.

"Solidified? Does that mean we failed the cleanup?"

Wang Zhifan was always aware that their cleanup team's mission in Gray Realms was to eliminate them and prevent them from solidifying in the real world. But now, there were inevitably failures.

"Yes, but solidified Gray Realms still need to be cleaned up. After that, we have to report it to the authorities so that the professional department can build walls around here."

Chu Wei continued to respond.

"Build walls? Isn't it possible to bomb it flat and rebuild since it's already integrated into reality?"

Wang Zhifan was somewhat puzzled about why this needed to be done because he knew Gray Realms were alternate spaces before solidification, inaccessible by non-players, who would turn into wooden figures if forcibly brought in. However, since it had already become part of reality, official forces that are non-players should conveniently resolve it.

"It's useless; the solidified Gray Realm itself cannot be erased."

Chu Wei immediately provided an explanation to Wang Zhifan,

"If real-world armed forces bomb the solidified Gray Realm, everything within it will completely recover in two seconds after being destroyed. This process can repeat indefinitely, and even a nuclear bomb will have the same effect—all attacks will be in vain.

Only using player power to kill the monsters within solidified Gray Realms ensures that the monsters will take at least a week to recover, thereby minimizing their harm to human society.

This aspect applies to un-solidified Gray Realms as well. In un-solidified Gray Realms, players using real-world weapons can't kill Gray Realm monsters either. They revive quickly after being killed, akin to monsters in video game dungeons respawning."

"Is that so... If we keep killing Gray Realm bosses with real weapons, doesn't that allow unlimited equipment farming?"

Upon hearing Chu Wei's explanation, Wang Zhifan's eyes lit up, thinking he found a path to immense wealth.

"Hehe... How could there be such a great thing? First, there are no rewards in solidified Gray Realms; rewards exist only in un-solidified Gray Realms. Second, only using player power to kill bosses in un-solidified Gray Realms yields rewards. Using real-world weapons to kill monsters won't result in any rewards, as they respawn infinitely."

Chu Wei's words shattered Wang Zhifan's fantasies.

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