F-tier Talent, Death Roll Call

Welcome to the Eerie World. This was a cursed world, and you would enter it as a player.

Remember: humans stood at the bottom of the food chain in this world. They were the most delicious food in the mouths of the eerie beings. If you wanted to survive, work hard to complete missions and earn their favor.

Note: There was no death in this world. Once eliminated, you would fall into an even more terrifying instance and face even more hopeless trials.

You had been matched with the initial instance—Crimson Apartment.

Inside, it was like a drop of ink falling into a bowl of clear water: dim and cut off from the light.

Ji Yan opened his eyes.

His brain crashed at that moment.

He had bought plenty of scratch cards, yet had never won more than twenty yuan. Instead, he had hit the jackpot on odds of one in ten million.

This was probably what they called a Chosen One...

Ji Yan's smile carried a hint of bitterness.

At that moment, a virtual game panel popped up before his eyes.

After daybreak, the eerie beings would awaken. Please familiarize yourself with the surroundings and learn about the eerie beings as quickly as possible. This could increase your chances of survival.

There were three players and three eerie beings in Room 404. Interacting with each eerie being would trigger different missions. If players failed to complete them, they would face punishments of varying severity.

Hesitation would only lead to defeat.

Rather than crying out in despair, it was better to pull himself together and figure out how to survive first.

Ji Yan patted his face, looked around the shabby room, then walked out.

Before long, he found two other people in the living room. They were clearly the other two players.

They were eating sticky, mushy food at the dining table. Though it looked disgusting, they ate quickly, not even chewing—only swallowing.

This way of eating was purely to fill their stomachs.

The female player froze slightly when she saw Ji Yan.

The male player did not even glance at him and continued wolfing down his food.

"Hey, this is really something. How long has it been since a new player came to our little place?"

The girl wore twin ponytails and had delicate features. She studied Ji Yan with surprise.

The boy tore off a chunk of blackened meat and glanced at the female player. "Why are you worrying about so much? It's not like we've never had newcomers before."

"Use this time to fill your stomach. Once those creepy things wake up, even getting a sip of water will be difficult!"

Hearing that, the girl hurriedly lowered her head and continued stuffing herself.

Ji Yan walked over and looked at the food in the basin.

The boy pulled his plate closer, his gaze cold and possessive. "This is our food. There's none for you. If you want to eat, go complete missions yourself!"

The boy had never liked new players.

These newcomers did not understand any of the rules.

If you helped them, they became dependent. The moment they ran into trouble, they came looking for you, and they could even drag you down with them.

They were nothing but dead weight.

"I just wanted to get a general idea of this instance's rules."

Ji Yan had the awareness of a new player. The two before him were clearly veteran players who had survived for quite some time.

In this unfamiliar environment, he could not find any useful information. He could only try to see whether he could get some from the veterans...

The boy clicked his tongue and said nothing.

The girl, however, felt that new players should be helped when possible. Perhaps they could help her in the future. After all, there was strength in numbers.

She gave a brief explanation. "In this house, we all play the roles of children. The other three eerie beings play the father, mother, and Grandmother respectively. If you want to live in this home and receive food, you must unconditionally complete the tasks assigned by those three eerie beings every day."

"Oh, introductions. I'm Liu Yitong, and he's Dong Chu."

Hearing his own name mentioned, Dong Chu looked displeased.

He shot her a sideways glance and sneered, "Beautiful Liu, have you forgotten what happened the last time you helped a new player?"

"After that, he clung to you like a sticky plaster. Even when he was Stepping on a Mine, he wanted to drag you down with him. Haven't you learned your lesson?"

He silently cursed this woman for never learning.

At the mention of the previous newcomer, Liu Yitong's pretty face darkened.

She glanced at Ji Yan, said nothing more, and continued eating the last of her food.

Then Dong Chu suddenly remembered something and unexpectedly took the initiative to speak to Ji Yan. "Every player has a Term Talent. Open your Information Panel and see what rank yours is."

Term Talent was something every player possessed.

It was a kind of welfare system for players, mainly divided into A, B, C, and D tiers. The higher the tier, the better the terms one could obtain and the greater the privileges a player could enjoy in an instance.

Although Dong Chu disliked new players,

if this newcomer awakened a good talent, he could play a major role in the instance and be more valuable than many veteran players.

That was why he said something extra.

He wanted to see whether this rookie had any value worth exploiting.

Liu Yitong added, "Right. For example, my talent is C-tier. It's called Innate Charm and it's a passive talent."

"In any instance, my face is more favored by eerie beings than other players' faces. Put simply, my favorability is 5% higher than that of ordinary players."

"Don't underestimate that 5%. During one mission, another player and I stepped on a mine at the same time. That eerie being wanted to take one of us as punishment."

"In the end, because I looked more pleasing, the other person was the unlucky one!"

Liu Yitong's lovely face held a trace of pride as she said this.

Dong Chu commented, "Pretty ironic. Even in the Eerie World, looks still matter."

Ji Yan opened his Information Panel.

Ignoring the basic status bars above, his gaze fell on the final Term Talent column, where an especially glaring F entered his sight.

"F?"

Ji Yan froze for a moment.

"Damn! Didn't they say D-tier was the lowest? How did you get an F?"

Even the two veteran players were stunned when they heard about an F-tier talent.

D-tier talents were already so weak they were practically useless.

For example, someone's D-tier talent was Lightning Speed, whose privilege allowed them to "teleport" within an instance.

It sounded insanely powerful at first, but in reality, they could only teleport two centimeters. It was no different from having nothing.

There was also an even more ridiculous D-tier talent—Unseen and Untraceable. Its privilege allowed the user to "turn invisible" in an instance, but as soon as they approached a player or eerie being, the invisibility immediately wore off.

These Term Talents all looked appealing on the surface, but once branded with a D-tier label, they were nerfed to hell!

D-tier was already absurdly bad. They did not dare imagine how eye-searing F-tier could be.

Dong Chu immediately frowned. The last shred of goodwill he had for Ji Yan vanished, and he no longer wanted anything to do with such an unlucky bastard.

An F-tier talent might even bring misfortune to nearby players. He could fend for himself.

Liu Yitong's eyes also held pity, but she was not as calculating. She instinctively tried to comfort him.

"Don't be discouraged. It's still better than having nothing. What matters is the player's own ability."

Was the God of Misfortune possessing him?

Ji Yan unwillingly opened the talent details.

Talent: Passive, F-tier.

Name: Know Everything.

Details: Through eye contact, you can glimpse the underwear of all eerie beings and players.

Ji Yan's vision went dark.

Fine.

This talent really was absurd!

But immediately afterward, a notification sounded in his mind.

"Ding! The player has successfully awakened an F-tier talent. Due to a bug, this is an abandoned talent."

"Due to the bug taking effect, your talent has been modified—"

Talent Name: Omniscient Understanding.

Talent Details: By touching an eerie being's personal item, you can obtain all of that eerie being's hidden information.

The simple notifications left Ji Yan staring blankly.

So that was what F-tier meant!

But if this bugged talent had been abandoned, how had he awakened it?

He had no idea.

But Ji Yan had no mind to dwell on that now. That simple talent description made it clear just how valuable this talent was.

He could peer into the hidden information of every eerie being!

This meant he would not need to risk his life like other players just to painstakingly obtain scraps of information to devise strategies for the game.

With a touch of his finger, he could uncover every eerie being's secrets completely!

Ji Yan did not reveal the bug in his talent.

The more hidden a trump card could remain, the better.

Showing off brought no benefit beyond satisfying one's vanity.

A flower in full bloom might draw attention, but it would also wither quickly once picked.

At that moment, the mottled Grandfather Clock rang again, tolling six times.

Six in the morning meant daybreak.

The eerie beings had awakened!

One second, Dong Jie and the others were still eating. The next, like soldiers hearing an assembly whistle, they swiftly cleared the trash from the table and rushed into the bedroom corridor.

As Ji Yan followed them over, he heard several strange sounds coming from a door.

It was strange because it sounded like something sharp scraping across a door, painfully grating.

When Ji Yan caught the stench of rot in the air, a hoarse voice, like torn vocal cords, drifted slowly from the pitch-black corridor...

"Did a new child arrive today? Come quickly to Father's room and let Father take a good look at how healthy you are."

Ji Yan's mouth twitched.

Seriously?

The first thing it said after waking up was to call for him by name?