Pain!
Pain, pain, pain!
Aside from the agony, there was only an abyssal dread: I am going to die. I am dying right now. What did death feel like? It certainly wouldn't be like transmigration. From this moment on, "Gao Yang" would cease to exist in any world. Even this very thought, this fear, would dissipate into nothingness.
No!
I don't want to die!
Gao Yang struggled to open one eye, which was currently half-crushed by a tentacle. Through the blur, something seemed to be floating in front of him.
He focused. It was a semi-transparent, six-pointed star emitting a faint golden glow. It rotated silently, as if waiting for someone to touch it.
Gao Yang didn't know what it was, but instinct told him this was his only lifeline in his final moments.
Summoning every ounce of strength, he raised his left hand, inching it toward the hexagram in the air.
Almost... almost there.
"Argh!" A violent surge of pain drained the strength from his body, and his left arm flopped down uselessly.
"Is this humanity? Human blood, the taste of a human..." Li Weiwei was in a state of hyper-arousal, her voice breathless with ecstasy. "So beautiful! It's amazing!"
In her grip, Gao Yang's skull was as fragile as a raw egg—she could crush it with a squeeze.
But she couldn't bear to break him so quickly. She was exercising extreme restraint, holding herself right at the critical point of crushing his skull. She wanted to savor the fear and despair of her prey's death throes to the absolute maximum.
These emotions were too precious.
She might never get a second chance like this in her life.
Finally, approaching the ultimate climax, Li Weiwei's body trembled uncontrollably with excitement. "Gao Yang, you're a good person. I like you... I love you..."
"I want you!"
"Give it to me! Please, give me everything you are!"
The strangling force of the tentacles loosened for a split second—the precursor to the final, crushing blow.
Seizing that fleeting instant, Gao Yang jerked his hand up and hooked his middle finger around the floating hexagram.
[BEEP—]
[System Activated.]
[Loading User Data...]
[Load Complete.]
[Name: Gao Yang. Age: 18.]
[Gender: Male. Race: Human.]
[Status: Awakened.]
[Talent: Lucky. Serial Number: 199. Rune Type: Miracle.]
—You're a System? Or a cheat code? Whatever! I want to use my Talent!
Gao Yang couldn't speak, but the voice in his heart was recognized by the System.
[Lucky is a Passive Talent. Cannot be actively invoked.]
—Then what use are you?! I'm dying here! Save me! Someone save me!
[Session Ended. System Concealed.]
[BEEP—]
The System vanished.
It all happened in an instant. The hexagram before Gao Yang's eyes disappeared, and he was still helpless. He was so unresigned, but there was no hope left.
He closed his eyes, waiting for death.
...
Strange! Why am I not dead yet? Why is the pain fading? Why is the force crushing my head slowly receding?
Slither— The tentacles went limp and retracted back into Li Weiwei's arm.
Gao Yang collapsed to the ground, freed from the suffocation and agony. He clutched his neck, coughing violently. "Cough... Cough cough!!"
Still coughing, he looked up.
Li Weiwei's arms had returned to normal. Her eyes were wide, filled with utter confusion and brimming with tears. "Why..."
Gao Yang's gaze slid down from her face. Her chest was dyed a deep crimson.
Li Weiwei looked at Gao Yang unwillingly, trying to reach out to him. "You... are... mine..."
Shhhink—
A long, narrow Tang Dao (Tang Blade) pierced through Li Weiwei's heart from behind. Her body arched backward, like a fish impaled on a harpoon.
"Move." A voice came from behind Li Weiwei.
Gao Yang trembled as he stood up. He finally saw who it was.
It was Qing Ling. She stood behind Li Weiwei, holding the hilt of the blade with both hands, locked in a forward thrusting stance.
"Qing Ling? Why are you... here?"
"Move!" Qing Ling repeated coldly.
"Okay..." Gao Yang quickly stepped back.
"Stand behind me," she commanded.
Gao Yang obeyed.
Qing Ling ripped the blade out. Blood sprayed from Li Weiwei's chest, splashing a gruesome crimson pattern onto the road ahead.
Gao Yang barely suppressed the urge to vomit. He then noticed something strange—the silver-white blade in Qing Ling's hand was unstained; not a drop of blood clung to it.
Qing Ling held the black hilt in one hand and placed her slender index finger on the tip of the blade with the other. She gently slid her finger down the spine of the weapon. The nearly 150cm long blade instantly vanished, as if she had folded it into a dimensional pocket.
Gao Yang watched, dumbfounded.
Is that a magic trick? Sorcery? Or a superpower?
Qing Ling didn't even look at him. "Don't ask questions. Go home immediately. I've destroyed the nearby surveillance cameras. Everything that happened here has nothing to do with you."
"But..."
"You know nothing. Say it." Qing Ling's eyes were sharp as knives.
"I... know nothing."
"Say it again."
"I know nothing."
"Again."
"I know nothing."
"Good." Qing Ling leaped lightly, vaulting over a two-meter high wall, and vanished into the darkness.
It was late. Gao Yang quickly left the scene and ran all the way home.
His parents were already asleep. Only his sister was still curled up on the sofa scrolling through her phone. When she saw Gao Yang standing in the entryway, face covered in scratches and bruises, she jumped in fright.
"Whoa! What happened to your face?"
"Oh, this..." In his rush to get home, Gao Yang had forgotten about his injuries.
"Ah, I get it!" His sister realized with a start. "You're cosplaying a zombie!"
"Ah, right... exactly!" Gao Yang went along with her nonsense. "The special effects makeup is pretty realistic, right?"
"Super realistic! Looks just like the real thing." She grinned mischievously.
This girl... he never knew which of her words were true and which were false.
Whatever. The events of the night were too sudden and absurd. His mind was a mess, and he had no energy to deal with her. It would be even more troublesome if his parents woke up and saw him.
Gao Yang grabbed the first aid kit from the living room cabinet and bolted for his bedroom.
Locking the door, he took a moment to calm down. He took out disinfectant and cotton swabs, cleaning the wounds on his face and applying bandaids. Then came the wounds on his arms—disinfecting, wrapping in gauze—hissing in pain and sweating profusely the whole time.
After simply treating his wounds, Gao Yang collapsed onto his bed, exhausted.
Fear and shock had replaced any sorrow. Everything that happened tonight felt incredibly unreal.
Li Weiwei... his childhood sweetheart. They had been together for over a decade, trusted each other, shared everything. But suddenly, she had turned into a man-eating monster?!
Gao Yang would rather believe that she had been eaten by a monster, and the monster was impersonating her. Like in Little Red Riding Hood, where the wolf eats the grandmother and takes her place.
But was that really the case?
Why did the Li Weiwei who wanted to kill him still speak like Li Weiwei? It felt as if she was the real Li Weiwei, and the monster was just a second personality.
There were too many things he didn't understand.
His wounds were still throbbing. Was I infected? Will I wake up tomorrow morning and turn into a man-eating monster too?
Gao Yang was restless.
Unnoticed, the golden hexagram had appeared again, floating silently in the air before his eyes.
Gao Yang sat up and reached out to touch it.
[BEEP—]
[Entering System.]
[Congratulations! You have successfully survived for 3 hours.]
—What's there to congratulate? I almost died just now!
[You receive 3 Lucky Points.]
—Why?
[Talent: Lucky. Serial Number: 199. Rune Type: Miracle.]
[Effect: For every 60 minutes the Talent owner survives, they receive 1 Lucky Point.]
—I see. What are Lucky Points for?
[The Attribute Panel displays various stats. You can use Lucky Points to permanently increase any attribute value.]
—Open Attribute Panel.
[Constitution: 10 | Endurance: 10]
[Strength: 10 | Agility: 10]
[Spirit: 10 | Charisma: 10]
[Luck: 0]
...
Gao Yang studied it. He had played games before, so he basically understood that the first six attributes corresponded to HP, Defense, Attack, Speed, Magic, and Crowd Control. As for "Luck," maybe it represented evasion or item drop rates?
He only had 3 Lucky Points. Adding them anywhere seemed pathetic. Gao Yang's gaze returned to that glaring zero.
[Luck: 0]
—Luck? Isn't my Talent named "Lucky"? What's the difference?
[Lucky is a Talent. Luck is an Attribute Value.]
—You said it, but you didn't explain anything.
—It feels like this Lucky Talent isn't that great. Can I switch to another Talent?
[Negative.]
—Open the Talent List, let me take a look.
Instantly, a densely packed table of Talents unfolded before Gao Yang's eyes.
Gao Yang immediately saw "Serial Number 199" at the top—his own "Lucky." Strangely, the names and notes for Talents with Serial Numbers 1-198 were all hidden.
—Why can't I see anything?
[System cannot display unexplored information.]
—This System is a rip-off! Why is it different from the Systems in web novels?
Knock, knock, knock. Someone tapped on the window.
[Session Ended. System Concealed.]
[BEEP—]
Gao Yang sat up abruptly as the System automatically closed.
A dark shadow had already slid the window open and jumped effortlessly into the room.
It was Qing Ling. She was wearing her usual training gear: sports shorts and a t-shirt. Under the moonlight, her long limbs were as white as alabaster.
She kicked off her sneakers with practiced ease, then undid her ponytail with one hand, letting her long black hair cascade softly down over her full chest.
"You..." Gao Yang started to speak.
Qing Ling leaped lightly onto the bed. She placed a bare foot squarely on Gao Yang's chest, pressing him back down onto the mattress.
"I ask. You answer."
"O-okay..."
"Do you like men or women?"
"Wo-women."
"Fine." Qing Ling crossed her arms, grabbed the hem of her shirt, and pulled it up swiftly, stripping it off.
"Come on."