Pain!
So much pain!
Nothing but pain—and a bottomless fear: I'm going to die. I'm dying right now.
What does death feel like? It can't be like crossing into another world. After this, no matter which world it is, I will no longer exist. Not even this thought, this fear I feel now, will remain.
No!
I don't want to die!
Gao Yang struggled to open his half-squashed eye, crushed by the writhing tentacles. Something seemed to float in the air before him.
He squinted harder. A translucent six-pointed star glowed faintly gold, spinning slowly, as if waiting for someone to touch it.
Gao Yang had no idea what it was, but his instincts screamed—this was his only chance at survival.
He summoned all his strength, slowly reaching toward the star.
Almost… almost there.
"Ah!"
The intense pain drained the last of his strength. His hand dropped.
"So this is what a human is like? The blood… the smell..." Li Weiwei gasped, euphoric. "So delicious. So wonderful."
Gao Yang's head was like a raw egg in her hands—one squeeze and it'd burst.
But she couldn't bear to kill him too quickly. She held back, keeping the pressure just below the point of bursting.
She wanted to savor every last drop of fear and despair.
These emotions—so precious.
She might never get another chance like this again.
At last, the climax approached. Her body shivered in ecstasy.
"Gao Yang, you're such a good person. I like you… I love you…"
"I want you!"
"Give me everything you have!"
The tentacles loosened momentarily—gathering force.
Gao Yang seized the split-second opening, thrusting his hand upward.
His middle finger brushed the six-pointed star.
[Beep——]
[System Activated]
[User information loading…]
[Load complete]
[Name: Gao Yang. Age: 18.]
[Gender: Male. Race: Human.]
[Status: Awakened.]
[Talent: Luck. Serial Number: 199. Rune Type: Divine Sign.]
—Are you a system? Or a cheat plugin? Doesn't matter! I want to use my talent!
Gao Yang couldn't speak, but his thoughts were still recognized by the system.
[Luck is a passive talent. It cannot be activated manually.]
—Then what's the point?! I'm about to die! Help me! Somebody help me!
[Access ended. System hidden.]
[Beep——]
The system vanished.
It all happened in a flash.
The six-pointed star disappeared. Gao Yang was still helpless.
He closed his eyes, waiting for death.
…
Strange.
Why am I still alive?
Why is the pain fading?
Why is the force strangling my head loosening?
"Shhha—" The tentacles softened and slithered back into Li Weiwei's arms.
Gao Yang collapsed, gasping and coughing desperately:
"Cough—cough! Cough!"
As he coughed, he looked up.
Li Weiwei's arms had returned to normal. Her eyes were wide in confusion, tears in them.
"W…why…"
Gao Yang's gaze dropped to her chest.
A dark red stain spread across her shirt.
Li Weiwei stared at him, unwilling to go down. She reached out weakly:
"You… are mine…"
"Shhk—" A long tang blade pierced through her chest from behind.
Her body arched backward like a fish skewered on a spear.
"Move," said a voice behind her.
Gao Yang stood trembling. He finally saw—Qing Ling.
She stood behind Li Weiwei, both hands gripping the blade in a low, lunging posture.
"Qing Ling? What are you doing here?"
"Move." Qing Ling repeated coldly.
"O-okay…" Gao Yang stepped aside.
"Stand behind me," Qing Ling ordered.
He obeyed.
She drew the blade. Blood gushed from Li Weiwei's chest, painting the street crimson.
Gao Yang barely kept from throwing up.
To his amazement, Qing Ling's tang blade was silver-white—completely clean. Not a drop of blood stained it.
She gripped the black hilt with one hand, ran her finger down the blade with the other.
In a blink, the nearly 150cm blade vanished—folded into another dimension.
Gao Yang was stunned.
Magic? Superpowers? Some sort of sorcery?
Qing Ling didn't even look at him. "Don't ask anything. Go home immediately. I've destroyed all nearby surveillance. Nothing that happened here has anything to do with you."
"But…"
"You know nothing. Say it." Her gaze was a blade.
"I… I know nothing."
"Again."
"I know nothing."
"Again."
"I know nothing."
"Good."
Qing Ling leaped, vaulting over the two-meter-high wall, vanishing into the night.
…
Late at night, Gao Yang ran home.
His parents were asleep, only his sister was still on the couch scrolling her phone.
When she saw his bloodied face, she jumped up in shock.
"Whoa! What happened to your face?!"
"Oh, this…" Gao Yang had rushed home so fast, he forgot about his injuries.
"Ah! I know!" his sister gasped, "You were cosplaying a zombie!"
"Ah, yeah… that's right." Gao Yang went with it. "The makeup's realistic, huh?"
"Super realistic! Like, scarily real." She smirked.
This girl—he could never tell when she was joking.
Forget it.
Too much had happened tonight. His mind was in turmoil. He didn't have the energy to argue.
If his parents saw him like this, it'd be even worse.
He grabbed the first aid kit from the cabinet and rushed to his room.
He shut the door, took a deep breath, then began cleaning his wounds.
Disinfecting his face, applying band-aids. Disinfecting his arm, wrapping it in gauze.
The pain made him grit his teeth, sweat pouring from his forehead.
He collapsed on the bed, exhausted.
The terror and shock were overwhelming.
Everything felt unreal.
Li Weiwei—his childhood friend. They'd been inseparable for years. Trusted each other completely.
But suddenly, she turned into a monster?
He wanted to believe she'd been eaten and replaced. Like the wolf in Little Red Riding Hood pretending to be Grandma.
But was that really the case?
Why did that version of Li Weiwei still talk like her? Like it was her—just another personality.
Too many unanswered questions.
And the wounds still throbbed.
Was he infected?
Would he wake up tomorrow as a monster too?
Gao Yang lay in turmoil.
Suddenly, the six-pointed star appeared again, floating silently in the air.
He sat up and touched it.
[Beep——]
[System Accessed]
[Congratulations! You have survived for 3 hours.]
—What's there to congratulate? I almost died!
[You have earned 3 Luck Points.]
—Why?
[Talent: Luck. Serial No. 199. Rune Type: Divine Sign.]
[Effect: For every 60 minutes the user survives, they earn 1 Luck Point.]
—I see. What do Luck Points do?
[You can spend them to permanently increase any attribute on your status panel.]
—Open status panel.
[Stamina: 10 | Endurance: 10]
[Strength: 10 | Agility: 10]
[Spirit: 10 | Charisma: 10]
[Luck: 0]
Gao Yang studied it.
He'd played games before—he got the idea.
The six stats looked like health, defense, attack, speed, magic, and charisma.
But "Luck"… what was that for? Dodge rate? Drop rate?
Only 3 Luck Points—not enough to make a dent.
Still, that "Luck: 0" was an eyesore.
—Luck? Isn't that my talent? How's it different from the attribute?
[Luck is your Talent. Luck is also a stat.]
—That explains nothing.
—This "Luck" talent doesn't seem that great. Can I change it?
[No.]
—Open talent list. Let me take a look.
Instantly, a massive grid of talents appeared.
At the top was "Serial Number 199"—Luck.
Strangely, every talent from #198 and below was grayed out.
—Why can't I see anything?
[System cannot display unexplored information.]
—What a lousy system! Nothing like the cheat systems in web novels!
"Knock knock."
Someone tapped on the window.
[Access Ended. System Hidden.]
[Beep——]
Gao Yang sat up with a jolt.
A shadow had opened the window and leapt inside.
It was Qing Ling.
She wore the usual training outfit—shorts and a T-shirt.
Under the moonlight, her limbs were porcelain white.
She kicked off her sneakers, undid her ponytail in a single motion, letting her black hair fall gently over her chest.
"You…" Gao Yang started.
Qing Ling jumped onto the bed, bare feet pressing down on his chest, pinning him.
"I ask, you answer."
"Okay…"
"Men or women?"
"W-women."
"Good." Qing Ling grabbed the hem of her shirt.
Pulled it off in one swift motion.
"Come on."