A New Persona Card

After Lin Nieran said that, quite a few people soon left the shop, until only three remained in line. After all, very few people actually owned weapons forged from strange entities.

"The blade is badly damaged. It'll take over ten minutes to repair." Lin Nieran placed his hand on the blade, his languid expression vanishing. "Did you use it to slash a strange entity?"

The woman took a deep breath and nodded, looking at the blade with dismay. "Yes. A lot of people have died in the Sushui Danger Zone these past few days, and a lot of new strange entities have been born. I ran into a wild one on my way back from a mission. I used the blade to block it in an emergency and barely escaped with my life."

"A wild strange entity?" Lin Nieran looked surprised. "Strange entities all have rules for killing, and those rules restrict the entities themselves, too. Could the one you saw have had a 'wandering' rule to begin with?"

"I thought so too, but I was still under another strange entity's rules at the time. This one didn't seem to intend to kill me, either. It seemed to be passing by without any awareness."

Someone waiting in line behind her chimed in. "Our mission this time has to do with the strange entity you mentioned."

"A new Weird Instance has appeared in the Qihua Danger Zone, with as many as a hundred participants."

"A hundred?" Lin Nieran frowned. "The last hundred-person instance appeared three years ago."

"That's right. The hundred-person instance back then was cleared by what's now the Calamity Crossing Team, but their squad was the only one to make it out alive." The middle-aged man who spoke sighed softly. "Every hundred-person instance is extremely dangerous. Going in this time, we'll have a narrow escape from death."

"What's the matter, San Shen? Scared?" The old man behind him snorted disdainfully, his rough voice as deafening as thunder.

"Bullshit. When have I ever been scared? Old Man Xun, you're the one who's so old. What are you doing joining in? When the battle royale starts, will you even be able to run?" San Shen bristled, flying into a rage at the slightest provocation.

"What's there to worry about? The Calamity Crossing Team will be there too. It's been three years, so they'll only be stronger than before. Maybe an old man like me can just follow behind them, pick up some strange entities, and muddle through." The old man laughed heartily.

San Shen scoffed. "You really have lived longer, old man. You know how to work things out!"

"You've got a bold mouth on you, kid."

"If you don't like it, let's have a match."

The old man waved a hand. "I won't bother arguing with a maniac like you."

"Hey, you old bastard!"

San Shen and the old man traded punches and palm strikes at the shop entrance. The woman and Lin Nieran calmly waited for them to finish, their mental states practically excellent by comparison.

Ten minutes later, Lin Nieran handed the repaired blade to the woman. She didn't rush off, instead chatting with him for a while. Only after watching Lin Nieran finish repairing the other two men's weapons did she prepare to leave.

"Wait."

Lin Nieran pulled three pieces of fruit candy wrapped in transparent cellophane from his pocket and spread them on his palm, smiling. "You're all regular customers, so here's a little perk. Eat one if you run into danger."

The crystal-clear wrappers gleamed prettily under the light, giving off a fruity fragrance. The woman picked one up and examined it. "Fruit candy? I haven't seen any in ages. Boss, you really do have a lot of nice things."

The old man picked one up too and laughed. "Young man, will eating a piece of candy like this in a dangerous situation make us die a little happier?"

Lin Nieran slowly removed his gloves and sat down on a cushioned stool, looking a little tired. He chuckled. "I hate parting and death more than anything. This might let you die a little more slowly."

The Masked Youth behind him said, "You're really willing to part with them."

Lin Nieran pretended not to hear and offered the last piece to San Shen.

"Tch, I don't want it. Keep it for yourself." San Shen hoisted his war hammer over his shoulder and walked outside. "Let's go. We're leaving in an hour. Let's grab a couple of drinks!"

The three said goodbye, and his weapon shop fell quiet again.

Lin Nieran walked to the entrance and looked at the dense crowd outside. The Masked Youth came to stand beside him, a smile on his lips. "I heard them say this rare hundred-person instance will be livestreamed publicly. A good opportunity for you?"

Lin Nieran rubbed the remaining fruit candy in his palm, his expression indifferent. Of course he knew it was a good opportunity.

It had happened suddenly, interrupting his plans. With the Human Puppeteer card's current strength, dealing with a hundred-person instance would still be somewhat difficult.

He didn't want to see the card lost in the instance. If he merged his own personality into it and the card died, that personality would disappear too.

As if he knew what Lin Nieran was thinking, the Masked Youth lowered his voice, his smile carrying a hint of seduction. "Why not leave it to me?"

Lin Nieran acted as if he hadn't heard him. He opened the system's card-draw pool and stared at his 2,560 fame points, somewhat at a loss. Could I draw a new persona card in two tries...?

The Masked Youth wasn't annoyed. He watched Lin Nieran with a chuckle.

Silver light flashed from the system, and the black-and-white 007 ball appeared. After taking a second to recover, it read up on what had happened around its host while it was away.

[Does the host plan to enter this Weird Instance?]

"Mm. I remember this instance is called Heaven · Addiction, right? It's also the instance where the protagonist group suffers a setback."

[Yes. Under normal circumstances, the protagonists would obtain an S-rank Weird Object in this instance. However, the danger level of this instance has increased greatly. According to the system's predictions and analysis, the protagonist group will suffer casualties in this instance.]

"Can S-rank Moonlit Night handle this strange entity?"

[Of course, host.]

Lin Nieran frowned and slowly shook his head. "He's not enough on his own."

Having understood what its host had in mind, the reliable 007 soon came up with an idea.

[Host, as long as you reach 10,000 fame points, I can unlock access to the shop early. The shop has what you need.]

Lin Nieran was a little surprised. "I didn't expect you to actually be somewhat useful."

[Of course. However, you'll need to prepare enough shop points in advance. Shop points will be tallied the moment the shop opens. Killing strange entities of different ranks earns a corresponding number of points.]

"Leave it to me, original body." Moonlit Night came out of a room upstairs, his green eyes curving.

Lin Nieran said, "Then I'll leave it to you."

"As you command."

Moonlit Night lowered his head and bowed slightly. Moisture seemed to gather around him, and his figure soon vanished from Lin Nieran's sight.

Lin Nieran stretched, then took out a card with a white background. It depicted a frail, black-haired boy.

He wore a short-sleeved shirt and shorts and had a small, thin frame. Head lowered, he held a Rabbit Plush Toy between his fingertips, his soft black hair hanging beside his cheeks. He curled up in a ball, hiding in the shadows.

From the card's illustration, the boy seemed to have a timid personality, but the corner of his lips, untouched by shadow, curved into a faint smile.

"System, I'll inject my mental power to activate it this time. I'll do it myself."