I Think You Truly Are a Weird Material

Xu Kai opened his eyes and found himself actually bound to a chair.

Ropes bound his body, with strange characters painted on them in a very vibrant color that seemed like blood.

Xu Kai tried to struggle a bit, barely able to move the chair, but when he exerted more force, the ropes suddenly tightened, leaving him unable to use his strength.

Am I... kidnapped? But is this scientific? These ropes tighten automatically, how eerie.

Seeing that struggling was useless, he raised his head and looked around, finding himself locked in an abandoned hospital room.

Drip, drop...

That was the sound of raindrops falling against the window. Xu Kai turned his head toward the window following the sound, only to see a face full of wrinkles flash past the window.

Immediately after, before Xu Kai could even react, that old face suddenly flashed right in front of Xu Kai.

Xu Kai startled, enduring his fear as he gazed at this old face, only to suddenly realize that the body beneath the old face had a huge hole shattered through it. With an injury like this, the "person" in front of him was actually still alive! This was definitely not a human, but a weird entity.

The weird entity's face was covered in wrinkles, its mouthful of yellow teeth was uneven, and its bloodshot eyes stared coldly at Xu Kai.

The surrounding air felt frozen, and a bone-chilling cold darted toward Xu Kai's back. Xu Kai, however, was exceptionally calm, paying attention to the weird entity's movements—at the very least, if he was going to die, he wanted to die knowing why.

After a long while, the weird entity laughed, its wrinkles blooming like a chrysanthemum.

"A fine material, actually showing no fear. But I hate stupid materials the most; they always ask this and that. Will you be that kind of material?"

No.

Xu Kai thought to himself and was just about to speak out when he felt the weird entity's killing intent condense into almost physical substance.

It was as if Xu Kai spitting out one more word would get him hacked to pieces.

"..."

Under the weird entity's pressure, Xu Kai remained silent for a long time, and this chill subsided by quite a bit.

Finally, it revealed a satisfied smile and said:

"Very good. This is the first lesson here, and you've done well as a material. A material like yours is someone resurrected by the Game Lord after dying as a human, born specifically to serve us weirds. If you perform well, the great Game Lord will even bestow grace upon you, giving you the chance to become a weird yourself. Now, tell me, what was the cause of your death?"

What? Was he dead? And resurrected by the Game Lord? Was he inside a game?

Xu Kai's pupils constricted, and countless thoughts raced through his mind.

So he had already died, and had even been resurrected into this so-called game; no wonder he ran into this unreasonable weird entity.

It was asking about the cause of his death and calling him a material—was it planning to use him for something?

Xu Kai did not ponder too much because the weird entity in front of him was already growing impatient. If he didn't answer now, Xu Kai was extremely likely to experience death once more, and this time torn apart alive by the weird entity before him.

Yet Xu Kai couldn't figure out how he had died, so he had no choice but to recount all the absurd experiences he went through right before being tied to the chair.

"I... seemed to be at school before. There was a merchant selling one-yuan snap-buy power banks, and he even said buying a power bank would grant school credits. I was just a few credits short of graduation at the time, so I rushed to line up for six or seven hours and finally got my hands on a power bank. In the end, my vision went dark, and I arrived here."

The weird entity fell silent, turning its gaze once more to stare at Xu Kai's mouth, seeming to judge whether Xu Kai was lying. Immediately after, it paced back and forth anxiously, its webbed feet slapping against the floor to make a pattering noise, before finally stopping with its cold eyes staring at Xu Kai as it said:

"So you're saying you don't understand how you died? Unable to even trace the root of your death, you are definitely a discarded material. Damnable! Just fishing you up and tying you with the bloody ropes consumed a City Coin!"

The weird entity grew somewhat deranged, several times wanting to tear Xu Kai to pieces, yet holding back in the end.

"Knock, knock, knock."

At this moment, a few knocks sounded from outside the door, interrupting the weird entity's actions.

"Who is it?"

"Lord Weird Duke, that regular customer is here again and urgently needs a material. You..."

Before the voice outside finished speaking, upon hearing "regular customer," the grievance on Weird Duke's face vanished in a flash, turning from anger to a smile. He glanced at Xu Kai once more and immediately said:

"Good! I happen to have the material he needs right here; hurry and invite him over!"

"Understood!"

After issuing orders to the thing outside the door, Weird Duke looked at Xu Kai again, his attitude turning enthusiastic as his face brimmed with smiles—only Xu Kai felt this smile was very cold.

"Material, consider it an honor. The Game Lord has not abandoned you; otherwise, you would have been thrown into the dump by me. You have obtained the qualification to enter the game world! Now, feel the grace, for I shall use the supreme mighty power of the Game Lord to perform authentication on you!"

Upon finishing, Xu Kai witnessed an extremely bizarre scene. This weird entity named Weird Duke reached into his body with his hand, pulled out a fragment, and placed it on top of Xu Kai's head.

[Game authentication starting]

[ID: 95201]

[Name: Xu Kai]

[Identity: Evil born of the game world, currently belonging to Weird Duke's dungeon]

[Tier: Evil]

[Cause of death: Unknown]

[Talent: Unknown] [Consent to deep authentication?]

[Health: 100]

[Weird Qi: 10/100] [Recovering continuously]

"Well? What is your talent? If it cannot be detected, go undergo deep authentication. Until it is successfully authenticated."

Although the Weird Duke had no hope, he still asked Xu Kai.

Xu Kai had not yet spoken when a so-called game interface suddenly popped up with a task.

[Game Cause-of-Death Verification, Talent Verification Task]

[Posted by: Weird Duke]

[Completer: Xu Kai]

[Task Reward: One portion of Source Weird Qi, Failure Penalty: Game Erasure]

After reading the task, Xu Kai's pupils contracted. The Weird Duke had merely said something to him, and it had actually generated a task?

Was this game really so unfriendly to a newbie like him?

And if failing the task meant being erased, what the hell choice did he have? Making him click whether he agreed to deep verification was just pointless busywork.

With no other choice, Xu Kai clicked agree. Then he felt a pair of enormous hands greedily reach into his mind, searching for something.

Xu Kai's vision gradually blurred. Before falling asleep, he saw the Weird Duke's startled expression, then completely passed out.

After a while, Xu Kai came to and found the Weird Duke's hand resting on his head. Then, like a broken record, the Weird Duke said:

"How about it? What's your talent? If it can't be detected, go for deep verification. Keep going until it's identified."

Was this a game bug?

No, that wasn't right. Xu Kai thought it over carefully. The most likely explanation was that this was his talent!

He must have failed deep verification just now and, according to the rules, should have been erased by the game. But he had directly returned to the moment after verification.

Could his talent be Death Rewind?

Xu Kai suppressed his excitement and furrowed his brow, trying to analyze the situation.

Then he helplessly relaxed his brow. What the hell was there to analyze?

The game task was issued, he agreed to deep verification, the verification failed, and he was forcibly erased, only to rewind again.

Besides, this was only a guess. What if it wasn't his talent, but just a fluke? Wouldn't he be doomed to die next time?

Xu Kai realized that thinking about it was pointless. It only told him that he was about to die again.

Sure enough, the game task popped up again.

[Game Cause-of-Death Verification, Talent Verification Task]

[Posted by: Weird Duke]

[Completer: Xu Kai]

[Task Reward: One portion of Source Weird Qi, Failure Penalty: Game Erasure]

Xu Kai stared at the task interface for a long while, his heart filled with sorrow, fear, and despair. Finally, it turned to anger.

"Hahahaha, you crappy game, I'll play you—"

Xu Kai hadn't finished speaking. He hadn't even clicked to agree to verification. He only laughed a few times before everything suddenly went dark.

It turned out the Weird Duke couldn't stand the sound of his laughter. With the hand still on Xu Kai's head, he slammed it downward, crushing Xu Kai and the chair together.

On his third rewind, Xu Kai finally understood that this really was his talent. The Weird Duke's broken-record words sounded in his ears again.

The memories of his first two deaths were still vivid.

The sensation of his nerves being torn apart, separated, and churned to pieces in a washing machine spinning nonstop was something Xu Kai couldn't bear.

He glared furiously at the Weird Duke. You damn bastard, couldn't you make the execution quicker?

"I bestowed you as a material, and you dare glare at me!"

Boom!

A massive force pressed down. Xu Kai didn't even feel the darkness fall over his eyes before he was crushed into a paper-thin person.

On his twenty-third rewind, Xu Kai was already numb. He had experienced too many ways to die. His mind was a lump of mush, and the pain had driven him to stop thinking.

"How about it? What's your talent? If it can't be detected, go for deep verification. Keep going until it's identified."

Wait. Hearing the Weird Duke's words, unchanged for a thousand years, suddenly brought Xu Kai back to his senses. His body paused.

Xu Kai's eyes suddenly lit up. The Weird Duke couldn't see his data and was waiting for his answer, so he could simply lie.