The Birth of the Unlucky

"Alright, alright. At least this pull proved I'm really not cursed," Luo Yifang said happily as he looked at the card in his hand. It was actually an SSR—the kind of SSR he had never pulled in his previous life!

"Uh, although I know it's not nice to shatter someone's beautiful dream, I should explain this card's function," Paqi said to Luo Yifang after thinking for a moment. "This Alimite Card is practically one of the highest-tier items there is, but..."

"But what?" Luo Yifang's heart tightened. He seemed to realize that things were not as simple as he had imagined.

Paqi cleared her throat and continued, "The Alimite Card's primary purpose is the creation and destruction of universes, but it requires equivalent exchange. If you want to reorganize a universe, you must provide enough energy to do so. Well, you can either supply it yourself, or sacrifice something filled with energy."

"What?!" Luo Yifang was stunned. This was a genuine piece of trash! Where was he supposed to get the energy to reorganize a universe? What use was this thing in his hands—throwing it at people? "So you're saying I can't use it at all right now?" Luo Yifang held up the card, his face full of disbelief.

"If you can find a suitable power source..." Paqi said with a pout. "This thing really could be called invincible. It's just that you have absolutely no way of using it right now."

"So I still haven't escaped the fate of being cursed?" Luo Yifang flopped directly onto the ground, his body turning gray and lifeless. "Just like I thought. It's like those scammy online games—they give you some ridiculously awesome thing at first, but it's only to let you try it out. If you really want to get stronger, you still have to pay up... and I don't even get the pleasure of trying it?"

"Mm, although I'd like to, I honestly don't know how to comfort you," Paqi said, indicating that she sympathized with Luo Yifang too. But what was with that faintly amused look in her eyes? "This card really is absurdly powerful, but any being capable of creating its power source wouldn't need the card in the first place. They could accomplish everything the card can do on their own, so why bother using it?"

Luo Yifang looked at the pitch-black card in his hand, grief welling up in his heart. He wanted nothing more than to throw it into some distant corner of the universe. "Do you offer recycling for useless junk?"

"Sorry, we aren't a scrap recycling station." Paqi once again made it clear that she was unable to help. "But this card actually has another function. You might like it."

"What?"

"Lottery draws." Paqi's sinister voice echoed through Luo Yifang's mind, making him shudder. "Inject a massive amount of energy to perform random reorganization, and you'll receive a completely random item no higher in rank than the card itself. This process follows no laws. You might get nothing but a can of cola—or you might get a Divine Artifact of the same rank."

Luo Yifang's heart trembled. Just when he feared something, it came true. With his cursed luck, what the hell was he supposed to pull? If he kept drawing, he would want to chop off his own hands. He, Luo Yifang, would rather die, die out there, jump off from here—he would absolutely never draw another card!

"How much is 'a massive amount'?" Luo Yifang asked with his head lowered, though no one knew what he was thinking.

"Uh, about the level of a star?" Paqi counted on her fingers, then saw Luo Yifang flipping through the listings in the [Myriad Worlds Mall]. She was somewhat puzzled. "What are you looking for?"

"A Star Catcher." Luo Yifang raised his head, his eyes blazing with the fervor of card draws.

In the end, Luo Yifang still failed to buy the Star Catcher he wanted, because that thing was apparently a little beyond his purchasing power. Moreover, Paqi said that a captured star card could not be directly absorbed, making the whole method useless. So he ultimately had no choice but to abandon the idea.

Sitting dejectedly on the sofa, Luo Yifang held up the card and said to Paqi, "Do you have any way to put this thing away? Looking at it annoys me." After all, its power was rather terrifying. What if it suddenly went haywire and reorganized the universe Luo Yifang was in? He would feel a little more at ease leaving it to Paqi.

"Sorry, this cutie doesn't provide that service." Right now, Paqi most enjoyed seeing Luo Yifang suffer. For some reason, it made her feel very good.

With no other choice, Luo Yifang bought another portable storage space worth 100 World Coins. Beneath it was a line of small print saying it was some lousy product from a certain magical world, along with a warning not to place overly dangerous items inside, or it might cause spatial collapse. Fortunately, although this lousy card had an unusually impressive origin, it was quite stable in itself, so there was no problem putting it inside.

After tossing the card somewhere he could not see, out of sight and out of mind, Luo Yifang decided to head outside. He suddenly wanted to do something, though he did not go far. He stopped right on the street below the building. "Paqi, can you send me into another dimension now?"

"Any time. But what are you going to do?"

"Just verify an idea," Luo Yifang said. Fortunately, Paqi was quite cooperative this time. He gradually sensed subtle changes in his surroundings. Although he did not understand the specifics, Luo Yifang knew that, just as Paqi had said, he had entered another dimension.

Looking around, Luo Yifang spotted something he needed—a motorcycle. He walked over and patted the seat. Paqi had thought he was going to ride it, but his next action left her stunned. Luo Yifang grabbed the motorcycle's frame with one hand and effortlessly lifted the several-hundred-pound bike.

"What are you doing?" An ordinary person naturally could not lift several hundred pounds with one hand, but for Luo Yifang, even lifting several tons with one hand was incredibly easy. Paqi therefore had no idea what he was trying to do.

Luo Yifang did not answer Paqi and merely muttered to himself, "So light."

"Of course it's light when you're the one lifting it... Wait, you didn't use Vector Manipulation?" Paqi suddenly realized something.

Just as Paqi spoke, she saw Luo Yifang clench his free hand into a fist and fiercely strike the steel body of the motorcycle. With a deafening bang, his right hand effortlessly punched straight through it. His hands exerted force at the same time, and amid the shriek of twisting metal, the motorcycle was wrung into a twisted mess. Fragments of all sizes clattered down from it. He casually hurled the ruined vehicle in his hand toward a storefront beside the street. The glass doors shattered with a crash, and the counters inside were all smashed apart and knocked over.

"Pretty strong," Luo Yifang said with a curl of his lips. He then turned and walked toward an Academy City police armored vehicle nearby. It seemed to belong to a patrol that had parked there.