The old man’s crazed expression, paired with his strange gestures—and the fact that he wasn’t wearing any clothes...
It was downright unrestrained.
Li Ran didn’t care. He just treated it like entering a public bathhouse.
“Are you looking at me with pity and compassion too?”
“Stop pretending. I’ve seen right through you. You’re just like them—posing as divine messengers, always spouting crap about purifying the world. But you’re just their puppet too. Don’t forget how you got into this world!”
The lunatic gestured wildly in front of Li Ran, his eyes burning with a fanatical light as he stared him down.
The madman’s words were absolutely shocking, and Li Ran couldn’t help but feel like the guy had seen right through him.
He didn’t fully understand what he meant, but it somehow felt... profound.
He glanced over the madman and furrowed his brow slightly.
A few lines of prompts popped up immediately:
(Madman: Pang Lai)
(S-Class Mental Infection Entity)
(Eerie Power: 2000)
(He believes clothing is a constraint on humanity. Only in a natural state is a human in their truest form.)
(Tip: He is extremely obsessive and stubborn about his beliefs. If you deny him, he will prove it to you through action. But you’d better not let that happen—you’ll die a horrible death.)
(Tip: Never resist or refute his worldview. Even if he says he’s a piece of shit, you must firmly believe him.)
(Tip: He will test you to verify his beliefs. If you don’t have an item like the [Mirror of Truth], you’d better leave now.)
Seeing these prompts, Li Ran’s brows tightened.
So this lunatic was actually S-Class!
No wonder Uncle Ge had warned him that the rooftop madman of Building 4 was best left alone.
Damn it, any of those hints about this guy were basically death traps for regular players.
All the tips felt like a ball of tangled string—once you’re inside, you’ll never find the way out.
Li Ran didn’t want to respond to a single thing the madman had said.
“If one day you wake up and see the world for what it really is—don’t panic, don’t be afraid. All you need to do is keep following the programmed routine like usual. Don’t resist. Don’t rebel. Because your strength, compared to theirs, is like an ant trying to shake a tree.”
“So tragic... so pitiful. You can’t even see yourself clearly. You’re walking down the path they laid out for you.”
“You don’t want to see the true face of this world. You won’t agree with my beliefs—because you’ve already been brainwashed.”
Li Ran stood there like a grade-schooler who’d accidentally wandered into a university lecture hall. He could barely make sense of any of this guy’s theory.
Still, he kind of enjoyed the feeling of knowledge pouring into his brain—only to pour right back out again.
Seeing Li Ran remain completely silent, the madman leaned in close, his pitch-black wrinkled face right up in Li Ran’s, and stared wide-eyed as he demanded, “You don’t believe me?”
[Quest Triggered: Pang Lai’s Trial]
[Quest Rewards: Eerie Power +200, Points +2000, Rare Equipment ×1]
When the madman had been ranting earlier, Li Ran could have turned and walked away, choosing not to take the quest.
But he didn’t. He’d come here specifically for this mission.
Li Ran smiled faintly and responded, “I believe everything you say!”
“You believe me even if I say I’m a piece of shit?” the madman asked.
“Absolutely!” Li Ran answered calmly.
If it hadn’t been for his golden finger’s warning, he might’ve actually burst out laughing.
Someone seriously compared himself to shit?
Then again, considering the guy was completely naked, it was obvious—only he could make sense of his own world.
The madman cried out, “Ayoyo!” as he stumbled back several steps, staring at Li Ran in disbelief.
It seemed no one had ever acknowledged his views before. And now, this good-looking young man—maybe he had a few screws loose—was just... believing everything he said?
“Interesting. Very interesting.”
The madman looked Li Ran up and down, eyes gleaming with amusement.
“You take off your clothes too, then!”
“Alright!”
Li Ran agreed without hesitation.
He didn’t have much of a choice—since the quest was already triggered, refusing to strip would be denying the madman’s beliefs… and that would get him killed in a horrible way.
So, off came the clothes, back to the natural state of mankind.
It was just that the five-inch zone felt especially cold and empty.
The madman’s gaze toward Li Ran turned from hostility to appreciation. He slowly said, “Seven days ago, there was this woman who didn’t know what’s good for her. I told her to take her clothes off, but she wouldn’t, no matter what—made it seem like I was trying to molest her or something.”
“Later I got annoyed by how noisy she was, so I threw her into that water tower to be decomposed.”
Li Ran looked toward the water tower the madman pointed at—the emergency storage tank on the rooftop.
Decomposed?
That was a living person, and the madman treated her like garbage to be broken down?
Worse yet, the water in that tower was piped into every home in the building as drinking water.
“Damn… thank god I don’t live in this building,” Li Ran thought, horrified.
Clearly, this madman must possess some kind of eerie ability that lets him dissolve people.
The longer the madman stared at Li Ran, the more he liked him. His gaze became increasingly fervent. “I may be old, but my heart isn’t. Kid, you’re not being honest.”
Li Ran didn’t respond, simply stood in silence.
The madman went on, “Come with me.”
He led Li Ran into a makeshift iron-sheet room built illegally on the rooftop.
In many residential neighborhoods, these rooftop tin rooms were used as storage or even for growing vegetables.
But to Li Ran, this felt more like stepping into a laboratory—and it was a pretty big one at that.
Bright spotlights lit up the entire room, making it shine like daylight.
“See that cup over there?”
The madman pointed toward a U-shaped setup made from three long tables.
Li Ran looked and quickly realized this was no simple thing.
The three tables were riddled with round holes, and in each hole sat a small glass of water. Every glass was filled with the exact same amount of water, neatly fixed in place. Under the harsh lighting, the setup sparkled.
A rough glance told Li Ran there were at least a thousand cups of water there.
“There are a thousand glasses of clear water there. Among them is one glass that is different from the rest. If you truly believe in my philosophy, then you will be able to find it. That would mean we are the same kind of person. Otherwise… you’re just lying to this old man!” The madman’s tone sharpened toward the end.
Li Ran was stunned.
A thousand glasses of water, and he had to find the one that was different?
What kind of difference could there possibly be?
Weren’t they all just water?
He swept his gaze across the U-shaped table lined with those thousand cups.
Transparent glass. Clear water. Even the volume was identical.
If he had to find a difference, it might be in the way light refracted off the surface—each reflection varied slightly.
Of course, if you looked really closely, you might notice that the tiny bubbles in the water were different too.
But seriously, who identifies water by comparing bubbles?
“You have one whole day to look. If you still can’t find it after a day, you’ll end up like that girl!” the madman warned.
In that brief moment, as Li Ran looked into the madman’s now-serious expression, he felt like maybe the guy wasn’t insane at all.
An S-rank infection body with a Eerie Force value of 2000.
To be honest, Li Ran didn’t think he could beat him.
But he didn’t come here to fight.
He came to complete a mission.
So…
A mysterious smile crept over Li Ran’s face. “I’ve found it!”
(End of Chapter)