"Gurgle... gurgle..."
Inside the private room.
The hot pot's red broth boiled, red chilies floating in it as it gave off a rich, savory aroma.
Jiang Qiao dropped five or six portions of goose intestines into the pot at once. After blanching them for around ten seconds, he fished them all out and dumped them into his bowl, then slurped them into his mouth like noodles.
Numbing, spicy, fresh, fragrant, scalding...
It felt amazing!
This was how hot pot was meant to be eaten!
Jiang Qiao ate until his mouth glistened with oil and sweat beaded on his forehead, but Shen Yingning beside him had little appetite.
She kept thinking about Jiang Qiao's question.
"How can you prove that someone who never existed once existed?"
She couldn't find an answer.
Because the question itself had no solution.
Yet Jiang Qiao's words had given her a strange, suffocating feeling.
It weighed heavily on her mood.
Gulp, gulp, gulp, gulp—
Jiang Qiao drained half a bottle of Happy Water in one breath.
"Don't think about it anymore. We'll go take a look around North City District later."
Jiang Qiao wiped his mouth and spoke.
That kind of question was completely unfounded. There was no way it could have an answer.
Still, he was quite curious about North City District.
After Supernatural Revival, North City District had remained shrouded in smog, whose source was still a mystery.
During his simulations, Jiang Qiao had sent many people to investigate and had even gone there himself, but they had found nothing.
The only thing he could confirm was that the source of the smog was no match for Braided Girl. Before Braided Girl appeared, the source of the smog had fled just like the other Vicious Ghosts.
"Ah, thank you, Teacher Jiang."
When she heard that Jiang Qiao planned to visit North City District, Shen Yingning looked pleasantly surprised.
"Don't call me Teacher Jiang. It makes my head hurt. My middle school math teacher was also surnamed Jiang, and I was terrified of him."
Jiang Qiao corrected the way Shen Yingning addressed him.
"You look a little older than me, so just call me Jiang Qiao. Aren't names meant to be used by people?"
Shen Yingning smiled sweetly and was just about to speak.
Suddenly, she froze, and a sense of dread rose in her heart.
She abruptly looked out the window.
In her field of vision, a woman had appeared on the third floor of the shopping mall opposite them.
At that moment, she was pushing open a window and slowly climbing out.
Then, with an eerie smile, she jumped down.
Hmm?
Seeing that something was wrong with Shen Yingning's expression, Jiang Qiao immediately followed her gaze.
The shopping mall opposite was bustling with people. There was nothing unusual.
However, when he activated the Underworld Filter, the scene in his vision changed.
He saw a young woman in a red dress climb out of a third-floor window of the shopping mall and leap down without hesitation.
She was certainly brave.
Just as the woman hit the ground, and Jiang Qiao thought she was about to instantly turn into a mosaic—
Suddenly, an eerie old convertible appeared out of nowhere.
The woman happened to fall into it.
Afterward, the car carried her away and disappeared around the corner of the street.
"This car..."
A solemn look appeared on Jiang Qiao's face.
He had never seen this car before!
Since obtaining the Simulator the day before yesterday, he had activated it dozens of times, but he had never seen a vehicle like this.
This was something entirely beyond his knowledge!
And the unknown also represented danger.
"Jiang Qiao, you saw it too?" Shen Yingning withdrew her gaze, her face slightly pale.
But soon, she noticed where Jiang Qiao was looking.
For no apparent reason, she suddenly breathed a sigh of relief.
All this time, she had been the only one who could see those eerie things.
The psychological pressure had actually been immense.
Now that she had discovered Jiang Qiao might be able to see them too, she inexplicably felt much more relaxed.
"Yes. I not only saw that woman jump from the building, but also saw her get picked up by a convertible." Jiang Qiao nodded, his eyes flickering.
"A convertible?" Shen Yingning asked in astonishment. She hadn't seen any car. In her vision, the woman had vanished the instant she hit the ground.
"Let's eat first."
Though Jiang Qiao was somewhat wary, he wasn't afraid.
As long as he stayed alive, he would inevitably encounter all kinds of strange things. There was no escaping them.
If he was afraid of this and that, he might as well have killed himself before Supernatural Revival began.
Besides, although that car was eerie, it didn't seem especially powerful. It felt about as strong as the paper car made by the Paper Figure Maker.
After acquiring the three talents Mad Scientist, Supernatural Chef, and Dual Pupils, Jiang Qiao had developed a special sense for the strength of Vicious Ghosts.
It wasn't particularly clear, but he could roughly distinguish between strong and weak.
Lunchtime ended.
Shen Yingning was preoccupied and hadn't eaten much.
Most of the eight-hundred-yuan meal had gone into Jiang Qiao's stomach.
On the road to North City District.
Shen Yingning drove a Maybach, occasionally glancing at Jiang Qiao, who was dozing in the passenger seat.
She personally preferred off-road vehicles.
But when picking someone up, a comfortable car was still the better choice.
At that moment, Jiang Qiao had his eyes closed and was checking the Simulator's information.
The cooldown had ended, so he immediately started another round.
[Currently available talents: Rather Dance, Live Commerce, Lift High, Share with Those Who See, ...] [Rather Dance (A): My heart tells me that sleeping is not as good as dancing, eating is not as good as dancing, and romance is not as good as dancing. Even death can't stop me from dancing on my grave.] [Live Commerce (SS): This streamer is reliable. If there are counterfeit goods, he'll really sell them!] [Lift High (A): I want kisses, I want hugs, I want to be lifted high, higher than the thirty-third floor. Only then will the fall be truly wonderful.] [Share with Those Who See (SSR): You can obtain a share of every beautiful thing in life.]
After glancing over the talents, he decisively locked in the SSR.
During the last few hours of his simulation the previous night, as well as from nine in the morning until now, he had been repeatedly using Weak-minded and Impulsive Urge to court death.
Because they had always been terrible BBC talents.
As a result, he had used his final solidification slot last night on Supernatural Chef.
Now that a high-end talent had finally appeared, he couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief.
This talent was called Share with Those Who See. It clearly wasn't simple.
[Solidified: Lightning Thunder Fist (S), Invincible Body (A), Dual Pupils (SSR), Mad Scientist (SSR), Fate Dice (SSR), Supernatural Chef (S)] [Current talents: Stalker (S), Share with Those Who See (SSR), ...omitted] [Selectable talents: Cold-blooded and Selfish... omitted] [Simulation begins—] [Day One. Supernatural Revival began, terror descended, and Vicious Ghosts killed people all over the streets. You stood on the balcony holding a cat as several Vicious Ghosts that had just killed people passed beneath your building. Since what belonged to those who saw it also belonged to you, some of their Ghost Qi drifted over and was absorbed by you. That night, you went from extreme stillness to sudden action and left home to capture several female ghosts. You didn't put posters on them. Instead, you used the latest high-tech invention you had developed to turn them into fully automatic dolls. Your Mad Scientist received an upgrade.] [Day Two. You used dried fish as payment and had Black Cat cooperate with you to kill Vicious Ghosts. You walked all the way to the hospital. Before you knew it, Lightning Thunder Fist had advanced by one level. You quietly stood outside the basement door with Stealth activated. Strands of Ghost Qi drifted out through the door and merged into your body. The female ghost worked hard at cultivating and improving herself, but roughly one-third of her cultivation was sponsored to you. You silently cheered her on and gave her a like from outside the door.] [Day Three. Through the female ghost's efforts, your Invincible Body and Supernatural Chef successfully leveled up. You discovered that the female ghost's strength had also reached a certain threshold, so you went inside and beat her severely. You became the Ghost Infant's father, and Fate Dice leveled up. You successfully controlled the Ghost Infant. That night, you ate Purple River Cart dumplings, and Dual Pupils advanced to the Second Tier.]
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