Reunion

Lin Nieran looked at Moonlit Night, who stood beside him. A small silver Little Joker still rested between Moonlit Night's fingers, unevaluated.

When they had left that instance, Moonlit Night had slashed at the Weird behind it all, but it had shown no intention of resisting. It had simply abandoned the game arena and made a swift getaway.

The host Weird had had the good sense to "give" him this deck of cards.

"There's a King too?" Moonlit Night said with a smile. "I understand now. The Little Joker is the moon at night, so the King should be the sun in the daytime sky."

"My lord, I'll go back and bring the sun down."

007 chimed in at just the right time. [Host, once you complete the pair of jokers, the entire deck can be recycled for 50,000 points.]

Lin Nieran was tempted.

Fifty thousand points. The Dimensional Territory cost 100,000 after the discount, so that would get him halfway there. The points for killing a B-rank Weird surely wouldn't be few, either.

"You don't need to go. Leave that place to Bai Yang and Flower Language. They can handle it," Lin Nieran said. "The Weirds in the Heaven · Addiction instance are only so strong, and Bai Yang's doll hasn't been fully repaired. There's no use in you going in now. Don't put all your eggs in one basket."

Moonlit Night took a sip of tea as Lin Nieran continued, "Go to the Lily Weird Zone in Cloud City instead. There are plenty of Weirds there. The limited-time shop is only open for three days, and there are two and a half days left. Kill as many Weirds as you can and earn more points."

"Yes, my lord."

Moonlit Night left, and Lin Nieran turned his attention back to the livestream. Soon, though, his gaze was drawn to the Masked Youth standing in front of him.

Lin Nieran leaned his head back, putting some distance between himself and the Masked Youth. "Why are you looking at me like that?" he asked lazily.

The Masked Youth's crimson eyes were full of displeasure. "Why are you sending that card of yours to our old neighborhood?"

"It's just where we used to live. There are so many Weirds in the Lily Weird Zone that Moonlit Night's abilities are a perfect fit."

"You want him to check whether those guys are all dead, don't you? Come to think of it, they've been dead for four years."

Lin Nieran shielded his face with his palm-leaf fan, avoiding his gaze. "You don't have to say it just because you see through me," he said mildly.

"In some ways, you're much more cold-blooded than I am."

"Otherwise, I wouldn't have been the one who survived." Lin Nieran revealed half his face from behind the fan and blinked. The smile on the Masked Youth's lips grew even more exaggerated.

By now, 007 was used to his host's intermittent conversations with himself. He must have been talking to his personalities again.

[Host, there are sedatives and purification potions in the system shop.]

Lin Nieran raised an eyebrow. "Are you suggesting I get my head treated?"

[At this rate, Host could easily suffer a mental breakdown. This system is concerned about Host.]

"Then you're underestimating humans." Lin Nieran spoke mildly. "007, stay out of my business. As long as the missions are completed smoothly, our cooperation can continue, can't it?"

007's little black-and-white ball spun around, seemingly pondering something. In the end, though, the ball bobbed up and down in agreement.

"Actually, there's something I'm curious about. If I die, you'll die too. What happens to your hosts in the other worlds?"

[Other systems will take over. I've also taken over hosts left behind by other systems.]

"So you really do have hosts who've died?" Lin Nieran was extremely surprised.

[That's why Host shouldn't be reckless,] 007 urged earnestly.

Lin Nieran acted as if he hadn't heard. "Open the Fame balance screen."

[Okay.]

On the transparent screen, the number representing his Fame was still climbing at an astonishing rate.

Thanks to this livestream and the influence of the main cast, as well as Moonlit Night and Bai Yang's few but memorable appearances, his Fame had now reached a staggering 105,811 points.

007 had never seen a host with so much Fame at such an early stage. Perhaps hosts in other worlds could learn from that thing called a livestream.

After their initial appearances, whenever Moonlit Night and Bai Yang showed up on the livestream, his Fame shot up, even if they didn't speak and merely stood there in the background.

A hundred thousand points seemed like a lot, but an identity card was only guaranteed after a hundred draws. This hundred thousand was only enough for one guaranteed card.

He hadn't planned on drawing any more cards, but... after staring at his balance for a good while, his fingers started itching and he couldn't resist making two ten-draws.

What if he drew another gold card?

Two minutes later:

After two ten-draws, all he had gained was some more candy and items for his inventory. The only new thing was a new weather card: snow.

Its ability was similar to rain, but this snow card lasted 24 hours and could be used three times. It was the highest rank among weather cards, so it was at least somewhat useful.

Lin Nieran decisively gave up on drawing more cards. He had used up today's luck drawing Flower Language. He'd wait a while before trying again.

With nothing else to do, he opened the temporary shop again. The discounted goods hadn't changed, but the other goods had refreshed. Aside from the items he could get through card draws, there was something else he desperately wanted.

[Luck Card

Item description: A card every living being dreams of

Note: Gain the goddess of luck's favor for five minutes

Points required: 10,000]

Ten thousand points. He didn't have that now, unless he sold the deck of playing cards.

But the King hadn't been returned to the deck yet, so selling it now would be a waste.

Lin Nieran sighed. He was so poor. If he could buy this card and then draw cards, the cards he got would surely be incredibly powerful!

Earning points was an urgent matter!

Lin Nieran glanced at his current points. His balance was a little over 4,000, so he sold another C-rank Weird Object he had collected before. That was enough to buy the items for the Doll Master.

[Consumed 3,000 points to exchange for "Teddy Bear Doll"]

[Consumed 1,200 points to exchange for "Parasitic Spirit"]

[Your available balance is: 0]

Lin Nieran pressed the two balls of light toward the Doll Master's card. Then all the strength left his body, and he closed his eyes and slumped into the recliner, continuing to watch the livestream.

He mourned his points. He was poor again. How could he earn points quickly...?

For some reason, 007 suddenly found himself warming to the Persona System, which didn't score particularly highly among cheat abilities.

It was a godsend for lazy people. The original body didn't have to lift a finger, and the spirit body could lie down and complete the missions.

Although Lin Nieran said those personas were controlled by his personalities, in the system's eyes, they were all part of Lin Nieran himself—his mental power.

By comparison, watching hosts who had received other cheat abilities suffer pain, face trials and temper themselves, growing day after day, was rather sad.

In the instance, Bai Yang sensed the moment Lin Nieran sent over the items he had purchased.

At that moment, he was holding a pile of fabric, watching Qin Rang patiently haggle with a stall owner beside him.

After more than ten minutes of bargaining, Qin Rang finally secured it at a price he was very pleased with.

After reuniting with Tao Yuan and An Ying, the three had followed the street and happened upon a stall owner who could make custom clothes. There, they had met Qin Rang, who had been randomly teleported out.

Qin Rang's game arena had been number three, the only one Lin Nieran hadn't interfered with. He was the absolute protagonist of this world, with the strongest luck and the hardest to kill.

The fighting in Qin Rang's game arena had also been brutal. Fortunately, he had broken through safely despite the danger. He only looked a little paler, and his spirits were fairly good.

Holding the fresh fabric Qin Rang had bought for two weights, Bai Yang was perfectly content.

Behind them, Qin Rang and Tao Yuan murmured to each other, exchanging accounts of what they had been through and sharing information, while An Ying accompanied Bai Yang as he continued browsing the stalls for materials.

It was getting late, and more people had appeared both at the stalls and browsing around them.