“Goddess Strategy Outline” (Burn After Reading)
Want to go out for a walk sometime?
Goddess: I quit my job to stay home and take care of my mom. She hurt her leg, so I’m not going out.
“What kind of injury does your mom have? Is it serious?”
“I have a friend who’s a surgeon. I can ask him how to deal with this kind of situation.”
“Is your dad not around? Then you’re handling everything on your own? That must mean you’re cooking and doing laundry too.”
“You must be a great cook, right? I’d love to try your food. It must be tiring taking care of your mom. I’ll come visit this weekend and take you both out for something nice. Don’t work too hard. Once your mom gets better, what kind of job do you want? Any plans or places you’d like to go?”
“Wow, same as me. Actually, my job is… well… anyway, is your mom asleep?”
“Wanna grab a late-night snack? I’ll drive over and pick you up.”
“But coming back late might disturb your mom’s rest, right?”
“How about tomorrow? I just happen to have a meeting at a hotel nearby.”
“Shoot, I forgot my charger. Can I come to your room and charge my phone for a bit?”
“Tomorrow, I’d like to bring breakfast for your mom—with you.”
“You work so hard. You poor thing, I just wanna give you a hug.”
“Your hair smells so nice.”
“I won’t do anything reckless.”
“I’ll take responsibility.”
When Lu Zhaohui saw Li Ran scribbling out this “outline” on paper. He was utterly dumbfounded, stunned on the spot, and admired him from the depths of his soul.
Li Ran tore the page from his notebook and handed it to Lu Zhaohui. “That’s as much as I can help. The rest is up to you.”
This wasn’t just an outline—it was more detailed than a full-on script.
If he still couldn’t win the goddess over with this, he might as well commit seppuku.
…
“Fortune Mutton Restaurant.”
Li Ran looked up at the sign hanging above the storefront.
If nothing went wrong, this should be the restaurant owned by his dad, no, owned by Grandma Mi’s son and daughter-in-law.
“Doesn’t seem like anyone’s here.”
Lu Zhaohui peeked into the shop but didn’t hear a sound.
“Let’s check it out,” Li Ran said.
The store wasn’t very big—eight tables were arranged in the dining area, each one set with various condiments and disposable tableware. A few still had bowls of half-eaten mutton soup left behind...
The whole front hall felt like a mess, like something had gone wrong and all the customers bolted before finishing their meals.
Li Ran frowned slightly, his sharp eyes fixed on the kitchen door.
“Stay behind me.”
He grabbed Lu Zhaohui, who was about to walk forward, and pulled him behind.
“What’s wrong?” Lu Zhaohui asked, confused.
Li Ran didn’t respond. His eyes were locked onto the kitchen door.
“SKREE!”
Suddenly, a terrifying blur of blood-red shadow burst out from the kitchen.
Instantly lunging straight at Li Ran!
“Bang!”
Li Ran kicked the table in front of him, sending it flying.
With a deafening crash, the table shattered into pieces before the blood-red shadow.
“Run!”
Li Ran grabbed the terrified Lu Zhaohui and bolted for the exit.
Just as they reached the door, the blood-red shadow burst through the window and appeared right in front of Li Ran.
“M-Mon… Monster!”
Lu Zhaohui collapsed on the floor in fear, pointing at the blood-colored creature with a look of sheer terror.
Li Ran frowned, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.
“It's Deng Zhiwei.”
At this point, Deng Zhiwei had completely lost his human form. He now looked like a skinned, gigantic crimson mantis, with two grotesque tumor-like lumps protruding from his forehead. All four limbs had turned into fearsome scythe blades, his appearance hideous and terrifying—like a swift-skinned executioner beast.
[Deng Zhiwei]
[Class B Mental Infected]
[Eerie Power: 300]
[Its evolution is incomplete and its power hasn’t fully formed yet. If left unchecked, it will become a massive threat.]
Li Ran knew all too well how Deng Zhiwei ended up like this—no further explanation was needed.
What he hadn’t expected was how terrifyingly strong Deng Zhiwei’s obsession and desire were.
He had directly transformed into a Class B Mental Infected, and his Eerie Power had even reached 300.
But Li Ran wasn’t someone to be trifled with either—he had an Eerie Power of 310. Why would he fear a 300?
Especially an incomplete mutant.
Still—
“Run!”
Li Ran shouted at Lu Zhaohui.
Lu Zhaohui jumped up and took off—there was no way he’d stick around.
“Die! All of you must die!”
The crimson mantis monster let out a horrifying roar, leapt ten meters into the air with a thrust of its bladed legs, and hurled a blood-colored scythe slash toward the fleeing Lu Zhaohui.
“Boom!”
Just as the blood blade was about to pierce Lu Zhaohui’s back, Li Ran flashed behind him, using his Thunder Dagger to deflect the attack. The massive impact sent Li Ran flying five or six meters back.
Lu Zhaohui turned to shout his thanks, then frantically continued his escape.
“You ruined my plans, so you die too!”
The fully monstrous Deng Zhiwei let out a guttural, beastly roar.
The creature immediately shifted its attention and charged straight at Li Ran.
“Shadowstep!”
Li Ran activated the Shadowstep skill and instantly vanished into the shadows on the ground.
The crimson mantis monster lost track of Li Ran in an instant, and in a frenzy, began destroying everything in its path.
“Li Ran, come out. I can see you.”
Five meters behind the mantis beast, Li Ran’s figure silently emerged from a shadow. His eyes were locked on the creature’s back.
“Shadow Ambush!”
Li Ran disappeared once again. Unlike Shadowstep, this time his form gradually turned transparent, blending perfectly with the surroundings.
Shadow Ambush—boosts both speed and strength.
Li Ran fixed his gaze on the mantis monster’s back.
“I’ve never fully tested my strength before—perfect time to try it on you.”
“If I make good use of my skills, I might be able to one-shot this brainless mantis.”
In a flash, Li Ran's stealthy figure accelerated dramatically. A nearly invisible outline, gleaming with a hint of cold light, shot toward the monster’s back.
Backstab!
The Thunder Dagger pierced into the mantis monster’s back with pinpoint precision, releasing a web of crackling electric sparks that spread across its entire body.
“Gyaaa!!”
The crimson mantis screeched in agony, paralyzed by the electrical surge.
“Backstab deals double damage, triggers extended stealth duration, Thunder Mark’s passive paralyzes the target for 0.5 seconds… I can go in for another crit.”
Li Ran calculated the timing of each move precisely. His eyes zeroed in on the mantis monster’s outstretched, pain-wracked neck.
“Shing!”
He swiftly maneuvered to the front of the beast, the dagger slashing across its throat like a bolt of lightning.
“Splurt!”
A fountain of blood erupted, drenching the ground in an instant.
The mantis monster let out a dying whimper and collapsed with a loud crash.
Not far away, Li Ran’s stealth effect slowly faded.
“Shadowstep, stealth, ambush, paralysis, throat slit… one full combo, and I actually one-shot a Class B creature with the same Eerie Power?”
Even Li Ran found it hard to believe.
In truth, he’d rehearsed this combo countless times in his mind but never found a real chance to test it.
He couldn’t exactly go practice on trees in the park—it wouldn’t tell him anything about his actual strength.
This combat trial had gone far better than expected.
“Looks like choosing the assassin route was the right call. Move unseen, strike decisively, no need for flashy nonsense—just kill in one hit!”
“Even if the consecutive backstab and throat slit hadn’t finished it, the extended stealth would’ve let me retreat easily. Worst-case scenario, I could still Shadowstep away.”
Li Ran was very satisfied with the effectiveness of this combo, but still felt like his skill set wasn’t enough.
If he encountered an enemy that could see through stealth and moved faster than him, he’d be completely countered—unable to use stealth or Shadowstep, left to take blows passively.
“I need a trump card and a contingency plan.”
Back when he first entered the mutton restaurant, he’d smelled blood, and a warning prompt had immediately popped up from the kitchen, alerting him to danger.
Sure enough, a monster had burst out of the kitchen.
“Since this is a dungeon like, monsters should drop loot, right?”
With that thought, Li Ran walked over to the corpse of the crimson mantis monster.
A blood-red, teardrop-shaped crystal rolled out from the creature’s slashed neck.
“Hey, it actually dropped something.”
[Life Drop: A crystallized essence that grants extra attribute points. Can be directly crushed and consumed.]
Li Ran’s eyes lit up and he instantly picked up the blood-drop crystal.
“Crunch!”
Without hesitation, he crushed the Life Drop on the spot.
The crystal turned into a cloud of blood mist that enveloped Li Ran. As he breathed, the mist was slowly drawn into his body.
In an instant, he felt a warm surge of energy flowing inside him—an indescribable sense of fullness and lightness.
His eyes opened, and the blood glow within them gradually faded.
When he checked his stats again, there had been a notable change.
[Eerie Power: 360]
[Agility: 70]
[Strength: 70]
[Constitution: 50]
[Points: 1100]
[Active Skills: (Shadowstep) (Shadow Ambush)]
[Passive Skills: Thunder Mark, Focus Mind]
“One Life Drop increased Eerie Power, Strength, Agility, and Constitution by 50 each?”
That was an incredible gain.
And it happened right in the middle of a mission.
Sure, it was dangerous—but the rewards were absurdly fast.
“I wonder if killing weaker monsters would also drop something good?”
[Only certain high-tier or special infected creatures have a chance to drop Life Drops. The drop rate is roughly one percent.]
Soon, his golden cheat system provided the answer.
“Damn, should I be celebrating the fact that I got a Life Drop on my first kill?”
Seeing that low drop rate instantly killed off any thoughts of grinding low-level mobs.
He’d be better off just completing missions. If he accidentally killed the wrong mob and drew the wrath of some elite or boss-level monster, things could get ugly.
Especially in this neighborhood—every “native” seemed to have complex background connections.
Li Ran wasn’t planning to die anytime soon.
Of course, if he got strong enough to steamroll hordes of monsters, that would be a different story.
For cases like Deng Zhiwei, who had turned into a monster from being a player, there wouldn’t be any complicated background to worry about.
Never miss a looting opportunity.
“Huh, there’s more?”
Li Ran found a blood-bound book on the monster’s body.
(End of Chapter)