Li Ran retrieved a peculiar item from Wang Qian’s body.
It resembled an irregular Rubik's cube, almost hexagonal in shape, with mirrored surfaces embedded on all sides. These mirrored panels shimmered like oil slicks, bursting with colors like a surreal oil painting.
His reflection in the mirror was distorted and fragmented.
Just as he was puzzled, a text panel appeared with a reminder:
[Mirror of Truth: A mirror that allows one to glimpse the real world. It is said some have gone mad after seeing the true world through it.]
"A mirror that can drive people insane?"
Li Ran frowned deeply and held the strange mirror up to his eyes. This thing hadn’t been shattered under the trampling of the shadow attacks?
“Could it be that equipment and items can't be destroyed by external forces?”
He picked up the odd mirror again. What he saw was a fragmented world, like peering through a kaleidoscope.
He stared at it for a while but still couldn’t see anything useful.
"Nothing weird about it."
“Is this a quest item?”
Thinking of that, Li Ran remembered one of the residential rules Uncle Ge had told him.
The madman on the rooftop of Building Four.
“Someone went mad from seeing the real world… The madman on Building Four’s rooftop… That matches.”
“So this thing must be a quest item.”
After pondering a bit more and still figuring nothing out, Li Ran stored it into his dimensional backpack.
“There’s more?”
Li Ran found another item on Wang Qian — a pair of glasses.
Sure enough, equipment couldn’t be affected by outside forces. He came to a conclusion: it was like in a video game — even if you burn the boss to ashes, the loot still drops.
[X-ray Glasses: Do I really need to explain?]
“This pervert Wang Qian even have something like this?”
Li Ran cleaned the lenses and put the glasses on himself.
“Holy shit!”
The outer wall of a residential house in front of him became transparent. He could clearly see the entire layout inside.
“That’s amazing.”
As he focused his gaze, he found he could adjust the viewing distance.
“Huh? There’s a chick taking a shower.”
“Sorry, didn’t mean to intrude.”
Before he could enjoy the view, Li Ran saw the girl open her bloody mouth and swallow a rat whole, nearly making him puke.
After that, Li Ran tested the glasses a bit more.
Within a 100-meter radius, they could see through up to five walls. Beyond that, the view became unclear.
There was another surprising feature. These x-ray glasses also had thermal imaging, like a wallhack in an FPS game.
“This thing’s a peeping god-tool!”
Li Ran clicked his tongue and grinned creepily.
Aside from peeping, he realized that the [X-ray Glasses] would be extremely effective in combat. With x-ray and thermal imaging, enemies would have nowhere to hide.
“That's it?”
Li Ran searched Wang Qian’s corpse a bit more but didn’t find anything else useful.
“Everything on this psycho was freaky junk, not a single decent piece of gear. What a bust!”
He gave the corpse a disdainful glance.
Fortunately, he did receive a special equipment reward from the earlier quest.
The reward had been delivered straight into his storage space.
Opening it, Li Ran immediately noticed the special piece of gear:
[Gloves: Giant Blade Gloves (Excellent) (Set 1/4)]
[Requirements: Eerie Force 700, Strength 200]
[Stats: +50 Eerie Force, +50 Strength, +50 Constitution]
[Effect: Passive Skill - Blade Strike: Increases crit rate by 20% for 10 seconds after hitting a target.]
[2/4 Set Bonus: +10% to stealth and ranged attack power!]
[4/4 Set Bonus: +10% to physical skill damage!]
“Damn, it’s a set piece?”
Li Ran got excited in an instant. The loot from the corpse was trash, but the quest reward turned out to be a gem.
But his excitement didn’t last long.
A single piece from a set had stats roughly equal to a normal Excellent-grade item.
Only by collecting two or four pieces could the set bonuses be activated.
Which meant Li Ran had to get at least one more Giant Blade item to unlock the 2-piece bonus.
And three more for the full 4-piece bonus and its effects.
“Sigh, got happy for nothing,” Li Ran sighed.
“Where am I supposed to find more Wang Qians to kill? And even if I do kill more, the set might not even drop.”
That thought made Li Ran feel a throbbing headache.
He thought back to the image of Wang Qian’s demonized giant blade form, then looked again at the Giant Blade set.
Clearly, they were connected.
Only the Giant Blade Demon types would drop this gear, and even then, it wasn’t guaranteed.
“If I could go back to the real world and reset this world… I’d keep running it and farming him till I completed the set.”
But the reality was, he wasn’t even sure if he’d make it back to the real world alive.
And even if he left, would the world reset?
If it did, would Su Bingyao still remember him?
No one had the answers. Not even his golden finger system.
“Am I getting cocky now? Hoping for too much is never a good sign.”
Li Ran slapped his own face to calm himself.
He was actually starting to feel a trace of attachment to this eerie world, and that thought scared even himself.
Night had deepened. It was time for Li Ran to head home.
If he didn’t return soon, his wife would get mad.
Before going back, he made a quick stop at the Happiness Supermarket.
This time, he could ride the elevator home without fear.
“Daddy, you're back!”
“Look what Daddy brought you.”
Li Ran pulled out a brand-new set of paintbrushes and handed it to Li Ziyang.
“Thank you, Daddy!”
Li Ziyang bounced with joy, hugging the brushes tightly.
“You spoil him too much. Come eat.”
Su Bingyao, wearing an apron, brought a steaming bowl of lamb soup to the table. Her hair was tied up, with a few strands softly framing her stunning profile. Her silhouette exuded an air of grace and gentleness.
“With such a beautiful wife, what more could a man want?” Li Ran said, love-struck.
Su Bingyao glared at him playfully. “You’re full of nonsense. Did you find it?”
She was referring to the marriage certificate she had hidden.
The golden finger had given no specific clues for this quest. The only lead Li Ran had was that the certificate wasn’t at home.
Li Ran was frustrated. The golden finger was practically useless in critical moments. For normal quests, it was timely and accurate, but when it came to marital issues? Either it said “pray for good fortune” or “this question is beyond scope.” What use was it then?!
He hadn’t found the certificate, but he didn’t come home empty-handed.
He got his son a gift, how could he forget his wife?
With a magician’s flourish, Li Ran pulled out a giant bouquet of roses and handed them to Su Bingyao.
Su Bingyao’s mouth parted slightly in surprise, her expression full of delighted disbelief.
“Wow! Mommy’s blushing!” Li Ziyang shouted.
A blush bloomed on Su Bingyao’s cheeks. She cradled the roses and gave them a sniff, then rolled her eyes at Li Ran. “You say the company’s struggling, yet you’re out buying roses? Isn’t that just a waste of money?”
“Besides, I’m not a little girl anymore. I’ve long outgrown my love for flowers.”
Though her words were full of complaint, Li Ran could feel the joy radiating from her heart.
Su Bingyao set the flowers aside and ladled a bowl of hot lamb soup for Li Ran. “Go wash your hands first.”
“Aye.”
Li Ran really liked this feeling. It felt like a dream.
A wife who fully supported and understood him, how many men dreamed of that?
Midnight.
The night fog descended like a black cloud pressing down, engulfing the entire neighborhood like a monstrous beast.
The black mist slithered through the complex like it was alive, rampaging in all directions.
Li Ran still couldn’t get on Su Bingyao’s bed without that marriage certificate.
At that moment, a wisp of black fog seeped through the crack in the door, swirling above the bed before drifting toward the tatami mat.
Li Ran, lying on the tatami, had already started snoring softly.
The black mist hovered above his head.
It lingered for a long while… then slowly dissipated.
“Ee… ee… ya… ya…”
A baby’s soft cooing voice echoed from one of the rooms.
(End of Chapter)