Li Ran was dumbfounded by Zhao Yingzhi’s string of questions.
You had to understand—just earlier, Zhao Yingzhi had experienced a horrific crime scene reenactment, and had just finished undergoing a police interrogation. Logically speaking, she should’ve been mentally crushed, bearing a trauma someone her age shouldn’t have to endure.
She had just reached adulthood, right in the prime of her youth—wasn’t this supposed to be the age of rebellion? Go have fun, be wild, be carefree. Why be so smart?
Li Ran suddenly didn’t know how to respond.
“I know who you are too,” Zhao Yingzhi jumped down from the stone table and walked up to Li Ran, spinning the dagger in her hand with a flourish like a pen trick.
“Bottom-tier. Li Ran.”
“Do you guys all call me that with such a domineering tone?” Li Ran said helplessly.
The spinning dagger in Zhao Yingzhi’s hand came to a halt. With a slick flip of her hand, the blade vanished. “Looks like you’re not planning on answering my question.”
“Your identity is quite interesting,” Li Ran replied blandly.
It was obvious Zhao Yingzhi had inherited the skills of the original body—a killer.
Zhao Yingzhi
Eerie Power: 400
Points: 8000
Ongoing Missions: 1
When he saw Zhao Yingzhi’s stats, Li Ran was shocked.
Eerie Power and points don’t match?
He couldn’t help but feel curious—what kind of mission had Zhao Yingzhi taken on?
But Zhao Yingzhi didn’t answer him directly either. She raised her head toward the gloomy sky, opened her arms wide, and took a deep breath. “The feeling of breathing fresh air is wonderful.”
As she said it, a gleam of exhilaration shone in her eyes.
“If this weren’t a weird, twisted world, living in a neighborhood like this wouldn’t be so bad,” Zhao Yingzhi suddenly said.
Li Ran opened his mouth but didn’t know what to say. Someone actually thought this place was nice?
Come to think of it… maybe I did too.
Was it because now I had attachments?
His mind couldn’t help but flash to the image of his wife, Su Bingyao.
Zhao Yingzhi was the smartest player Li Ran had met so far. After he explained the rules he’d pieced together over the past few days, she was able to deduce the rest after just hearing the beginnings.
And at the end of the rules, Li Ran shamelessly added one more: if you help a teammate complete their task, you get half of their points.
He’d risked his life to rescue Zhao Yingzhi—there was no way he wouldn’t get paid for it, even if it had been kind of accidental.
Zhao Yingzhi eyed Li Ran suspiciously. “You’re saying I have to give you half my points?”
Her mission began with amnesia. After that, before she could even decide her next move, her so-called family injected her with a memory-erasing serum. Then came five consecutive days of mentally torturous crime scene reenactments.
If not for Li Ran’s appearance, she would’ve likely been forced by police on the sixth day to reveal her memories—and the assassin organization behind her—via a truth serum… and finally executed.
Zhao Yingzhi gave him a look that said I see what you’re doing, but I won’t say it out loud. Still, she transferred 4,000 points to Li Ran through the points shop.
“You’re an interesting partner,” Zhao Yingzhi said.
Li Ran checked his balance and smiled faintly. “Your mission seems a little different from ours?”
“Triggered a special mission. The longer I survive, the higher the reward. Points double,” Zhao Yingzhi said.
“I’m Jealous. Why can’t I trigger that kind of mission?” Li Ran chuckled.
“You try being locked up for six days with your memory wiped every day, then you’ll get one.”
“…”
Li Ran’s current points: 1900
After receiving 4000 from Zhao Yingzhi: 5900
With 5900 points, he could hit the store and buy equipment—at least a rare item with a skill.
Plus, he’d just completed a delivery mission.
[Mission Completed: Food Delivery]
[Reward: Eerie Power +50, Points +500]
[Item Card Activated]
With that, Li Ran’s points rose to 6400.
He immediately checked the item card Yang Ping had given him.
[Special Card: Attribute Swap]
[Effect: Active Use – Player can swap any chosen stat into another stat. Effect lasts 10 minutes. Cooldown: 1 day.]
“Whoa, this card is something else.”
After seeing its attributes, Li Ran was ecstatic.
In combat, he could activate Attribute Swap to convert his Strength, Agility, or Constitution into Eerie Power, giving him a burst of short-term power.
“With this card, I’ve got another trump card. I won’t have to be scared of those slightly-stronger-than-me monsters anymore. This young master’s got some real fight now!”
Li Ran opened the Points Shop.
He went straight to the rare gear section.
Next to him, after understanding the rules, Zhao Yingzhi also entered the Points Shop.
“Go straight to the 6000+ points section.”
His eyes scanned through the gear listings quickly.
“Right now, my skills are: escape, ambush, crit, knockback, ranged attacks. I’ve got a pet, Chitong with strong attack potential. Passive skills include survivability, paralysis, immunity to mental attacks, and resistance to control effects. All in all, not bad.”
“The Attribute Swap card gives a major attribute boost, especially the burst power after activation that lasts ten minutes.”
Thinking that, Li Ran made up his mind.
This time, he’d focus on gear that boosted attributes first, skills second.
Very quickly, he locked in on a 6300-point rare item.
[Headgear: Stalker’s Crown (Rare)]
[Requirement: Eerie Power 800, Agility 200]
[Attributes: Eerie Power +100, Strength +100, Agility +500]
[Active Skill: Weakness Insight – Reveals target’s weak points. Attacking them causes critical or fatal damage.]
[Passive Skill: Sprint – Drastically increases movement speed while running. Boost scales with Agility stat.]
After selecting it, Li Ran spent 6300 points and purchased the Stalker’s Crown.
Looking at his remaining 100 points, his heart ached.
“Hope this big splurge is worth it.”
He quickly equipped the crown.
In the dungeon, players’ equipment was only visible to themselves, and wearing gear didn’t show up visually—a pretty user-friendly feature.
Li Ran glanced at his stat panel. Everything had increased across the board, and his Eerie Power had broken the thousand mark.
Eerie Power: 1080
Agility: 720
Strength: 370
Constitution: 250
Points: 100
Active Skills: [Shadowstep], [Shadow Ambush], [Shadowfang Bite], [Blood Scythe Blade], [Explosive Arrow], [Summon Space], [Weakness Insight]
Passive Skills: [Phantom], [Thunder Mark], [Focus Mind], [Immunity], [Demon Stomp], [Lookout], [Blade Strike], [Sprint]
Special Cards: [Phoenix Rising], [Family Summon], [Attribute Swap]
Li Ran’s stat panel was downright luxurious.
Zhao Yingzhi had also finished browsing the shop. She seemed to have bought a bunch of lower-level gear to stack attributes.
“My follow-up mission is a team-based one. The reward is 2000 points. I need a partner like you.”
She turned to look at Li Ran, her meaning obvious—she was inviting him to form a team.
Li Ran was stunned on the spot. “Team mission?”
(End of Chapter)