[There is "1" unused skill point remaining, would you like to continue developing the skill tree?]
Ji Minghuan leaned his body against the headboard of the bed, tilted his head, and glanced at the newly unlocked skill on the "Hidden" branch.
[Branch One (Hidden): Restraint Sensing (Learned) → Restraint Truth (Studied) → Restraint Belt Color Change (To be learned, requires "1" skill point to unlock) → Unknown → Unknown]
He lifted his finger and gently clicked on the newly unlocked skill, with a detailed panel popping up shortly.
[Restraint Belt Color Change: Allows your restraint belt to enter an invisible state. Once you wrap yourself with the restraint belt, it will render you invisible. (If you encounter an entity with attributes significantly higher than yours, there's a good chance they might detect you when you get within a certain distance)]
Ji Minghuan stared at the skill description, thinking, "Pretty good, suitable for tracking situations... But have I invested too much in this branch, making it somewhat heavily specialized."
At the moment, only the "Hidden" branch of the skill tree grew particularly long, while the "Frenzy" and "Li" branches were weak and drooping, as if they could wither at any moment.
"But for now, I can only develop this way... I can't use the skills from the combat branch: I can't beat strong ones, and the weak ones are easy to handle."
Ji Minghuan scratched his head, expressionlessly contemplating, "Learn it, there's no better option for now."
He lifted his finger, pressing and holding the skill icon. The icon turned from bright to dark, bursting with a red-black glow carrying its true name.
[Consumed "1" skill point, successfully learned the "Hidden" branch skill—"Restraint Belt Color Change."]
[The next skill in the "Hidden" branch is now open for learning.]
Ji Minghuan glanced at the newly unlocked skill in the "Hidden" system, mumbling, "The good skills in this branch just keep coming, can't stop at all."
[Restraint Trap: Set a trap made of restraint belts on the spot. Once an enemy steps into the trap area, their legs will immediately become entangled and bound by the restraint belts. (The restraint trap released by this skill will inherit effects from "Restraint Sensing", "Restraint Detection", and other skills)]
"This description looks so sneaky, so tempting... But unfortunately, the skill points have run out."
Seeing that there was nothing else to operate, he brought up the "Character Cultivation System" panel.
[The exclusive cultivation system for this character is—"Social Superstar System."]
[The core rule of the "Social Superstar System" is: every time you establish cooperative relationships with more extraordinary humans, you can receive rewards through the "Exclusive Cultivation System."]
[Current progress—Cultivation Task 1: Establish a friendly cooperative relationship with 1 superpower user (regardless of which side) (Reward: 1 attribute point)]
[Cultivation Task 1 completed, reward received: 1 attribute point.]
[Cultivation Task 2 has appeared: Establish cooperative relationships with a total of 3 extraordinary species (current progress: 1/3, the established cooperative relationship is with the mutant "Blue Arc").]
Ji Minghuan raised an eyebrow, his eyes lighting up in the dark, "Right, would cooperating with harmless superpower users count as cooperation? That way, I could find hundreds of collaborators in a day, wouldn't I directly max out my attributes?"
He thought, "Let's experiment, it won't take much time, just a pre-sleep activity, to look for harmless superpower users nearby. Although it's risky to go out now, given that both Dad and my brother are home."
Ji Minghuan opened the personal panel and added the attribute point from the cultivation task reward to "Strength".
[The strength attribute of Game Character 1 "Black Cocoon" has changed: C+ level → C++ level]
He took out his phone from under the pillow, logged onto the Mutants Association's website, and used the restraint belt to pull out a notebook and a ballpoint pen from the bedside cabinet. Tearing off a page, he wrote a line of text on it with the pen:
—"In a dream, do not disturb, or I'll run away from home too with my sister."
It must be said that the restraint belt was also quite dexterous in such fine work, even writing letters more neatly than Ji Minghuan himself.
He then used the restraint belt to take out a bottle of glue from the drawer, wrapped the belt around it to grip the bottle, got out of bed, turned the doorknob, left the room, and stood in the corridor, using glue to stick the piece of paper with the writing on the door.
Then he returned to the room, closed the door, and locked it.
"Okay, now I have free time."
Based on his understanding of Gu Qiye, no matter what business Gu Qiye might have to find him later, seeing that line of text on the door would surely deter him from disturbing Ji Minghuan's sleep.
Because Gu Qiye still felt guilty about the recent quarrel with their dad in front of his younger siblings, now with one sister having already run away from home, he certainly wouldn't want to see his brother throw a fit and storm out too.
The Gu Zhuo Case is even more so not worthy of mention, having no standing in this home, akin to a prisoner under observation, most likely asleep peacefully in his room at this hour.
Ji Minghuan used the restraint belt against the wooden floor of the room, with his senses seeping down like rainwater.
He spied on Gu Qiye reading a book in the living room downstairs, while retrieving a mask and trench coat from the storage box at the base, slowly putting them on, pressing the fastening button on the side of the mask's ear, and turning on the built-in voice changer.
He gazed silently at the phone screen, whispering, "Let's see... which well-known harmless superpower user nearby we will choose at random as the lucky one."
Almost every "harmless superpower user" profile is logged on the Mutants Association's website, facilitating checks for big corporations. Only harmless superpower users are qualified to enter companies to work alongside ordinary people, and in certain situations, their extraordinary abilities make a significant impact in the workplace.
At this moment, Ji Minghuan was browsing through these "harmless superpower user" profiles.
After a moment, his gaze locked on one of the profile photos.
"It's you... the bookstore owner, codenamed 'Photo Finder' the harmless superpower user."
To be honest, Ji Minghuan wasn't confident whether the noise made when sneaking out of the room through the floor-to-ceiling window would go unnoticed by his brother downstairs and his father on the third floor.
To be cautious, Ji Minghuan wrapped his entire body, mask, and trench coat included, like a black mummy with the restraint belt, leaving only a slit for his eyes.
The next moment, as the recently learned skill—[Restraint Belt Color Change] effect activated, the pitch-black restraint belt color shifted, displaying an invisible camouflaged transparency, making Ji Minghuan, wrapped within, impossible to see.
"This is really handy."
Ji Minghuan tugged at the corner of his mouth, satisfied at his transparent body, maintaining the invisible state to test walking around a few steps, perfectly blending with the air, before gently sliding open the floor-to-ceiling window.
Diverting gravity to the floating restraint belt, he leaped through the window, and into the moonlight.
....
...
Five minutes later, Li Jing City, Broly Bookstore.
The store was lit by warm orange lights, completely deserted, as bookstores wouldn't typically stay open until now. Since it doubled as a cafe, it stayed open this late.
The young owner stood outside the store, flipping the sign on the door from "Open" to "Close".
Then he went back inside, listening to jazz music, doing the final closing tasks: tidying the bookshelves, wiping tables and the radio with a cloth, and returning the hardcover books left by customers in the coffee area back to the gaps on the shelves.
The coffee machine's alert sounded, and he poured a cup of hot coffee, bringing it to the counter, as a wave of aromatic heat rose.
Slightly curling his lips, he breathed in a whiff of the blissful air, ready to enjoy the last moment of quietude before the end of the shift. All of a sudden, an alien object appeared in the corner of his vision.
The owner paused for a couple of seconds, putting the coffee cup down and slowly lifting his head.
He saw a gigantic, pitch-black cocoon hanging upside down below the ceiling, just an arm's length away from his head. What was strange was... despite being right above, the owner hadn't seen it moments ago, almost as if the black cocoon could turn invisible as well.