SSR Talent: Dual Pupils

[Eerie Simulator successfully activated]

[Current talents available for fusion:

Actor (A-Class): Overwhelmingly convincing—your flawless acting! Our leader is actually the enemy's undercover agent!

Big Eater (B-Class): You have an astonishing appetite and aren't picky. You can even eat steel and concrete as food.

Honest Person (A-Class): The manager said to fleece honest customers mercilessly! I did as told, and now I live a life with a regular schedule.

Dual Pupils (SSR-Class): Is what we see the real world? You never doubted it, until you gained a mysterious pupil.

...]

"Hiss—"

"Holy crap!"

A cry of surprise rang out as Jiang Qiao sucked in a sharp breath, staring blankly at the screen before him.

"An SSR-Class talent!"

"Awesome!"

He had never expected his final draw to be so absurdly lucky, pulling an SSR-Class item right away!

The highest grade!

Damn!

This was insane! Insane! Insane!

His luck had exploded!

Jiang Qiao excitedly got to his feet and paced around the room, doing several one-armed giant swings in a row.

Dual Pupils!

With surging excitement, Jiang Qiao read the talent description on the screen word by word:

[Dual Pupils (SSR-Class): Break through the boundary between life and death, allowing you to gaze directly upon an Ominous World.

Be careful! You can see the abyss because you have already approached it!]

[Tip: Under Dual Pupils vision, you can distinguish the strength of Vicious Ghosts and find their weaknesses. You can also directly see curses, and anything you can see, you can touch.]

[Tip: As Dual Pupils upgrades, Cognition-Subverting Strange Abilities will emerge. However, it will also gradually connect to an Unknown Land.]

The description was rather short, but it contained quite a bit of information.

Setting aside the abilities of Dual Pupils themselves, that "Unknown Land" had greatly piqued Jiang Qiao's interest!

It made him instinctively think of the origin of the supernatural.

Through simulations and system prompts, Jiang Qiao naturally knew that people did not become ghosts after death.

Yet on the other hand, these Vicious Ghosts did share some obvious similarities with the Ghosts passed down in ancient tales!

Jiang Qiao thought of those Paper People.

In the real world, Paper People were also very important ritual offerings.

Humans would not create such things out of thin air.

Perhaps, in some lost era of history, humanity and Vicious Ghosts had once crossed paths.

Jiang Qiao developed a strong thirst for knowledge about that so-called "Supernatural World"!

It was like how, after humanity learned how vast the universe was, they could not help but wonder what lay beyond it!

Jiang Qiao did not know whether humanity would ever have a day when they explored beyond the universe.

But with the Simulator, perhaps he would someday have the chance to visit the homeland of Vicious Ghosts!

Of course, it was still too early to talk about that. The most important thing now was to hurry up and choose his talents.

It was already 8:55.

If he accidentally ran out of time and lost the SSR-Class talent, that would be one hell of a joke.

[Talent selection complete—]

[Solidified: Lightning Thunder Fist (S-Class)]

[Current talents: "Mason," "Sliding Master," "Scavenger," "Invincible Body," "Dual Pupils"]

[Simulation begins—]

[Day One. Supernatural Revival. Terror descended.

You stood by the window and observed. Above the heavens, an Inverted City flickered in and out of sight, while black-and-white funeral portraits drifted down to the human world alongside Incense Ash.

That night, the sound of marbles hitting the floor came from the ceiling.

You went upstairs to investigate. Under Dual Pupils vision, the once clean and tidy room immediately became a complete mess.

Furniture and appliances lay scattered everywhere. Dried Bloodstains could be seen all over the walls and ceiling.

A severed Left Hand was playing with an eyeball, making rolling sounds.]

[You watched curiously for a while and discovered that its movements were somewhat stiff and unpracticed.

So you picked up the eyeball, tossed it into the toilet, and pressed the flush button.]

[Day Two. The survivors at the inn gathered in the owner's room to discuss what to do next.

Meanwhile, you took out the severed hand you had obtained yesterday from the wall and used its fingers to dig a great deal of hair out of the faucet.]

[Day Three. A Search and Rescue Team arrived downstairs. The inn's survivors were successfully rescued, but you chose to leave alone.

Carrying a Bone Lantern, you traveled down mottled streets under the illumination of Green Light, backstabbing Vicious Ghosts all the way.

One Vicious Ghost after another fell in bewilderment, while your Lightning Thunder Fist also broke through to the second tier.

Because you killed a large number of Vicious Ghosts, many people were saved.

They wanted to follow you, but you refused.]

[Day Four. You passed by a hospital and discovered blood-red light soaring into the sky from within. You entered to explore and saw groups of Ghost Infants using IV tubes as swings.

You followed the stairs down to the basement and saw a Pregnant Female Ghost sleeping soundly.

You discovered that she was extremely weak, so you rushed over and viciously punched her in the stomach!

The Pregnant Female Ghost chased you through three streets with her swollen belly, but you ultimately escaped.]

Huh?

The Pregnant Female Ghost was hiding in the hospital basement, and she was very weak on the fourth day?

Very good!

Jiang Qiao hurriedly recorded this important information.

[Day Five. You returned to the inn. After entering, you heard someone outside calling your name.

When you opened the door, you found two Paper People wearing floral cotton jackets carrying a coffin.

You fought them and discovered that their strength had reached the second tier.]

[You severely injured the Paper People and saw a distorted Shadow Figure within them, with a black thread extending into the void behind them.]

[You killed one Paper Person and discovered that at the instant it died, the black thread pulled the Shadow Figure out of its body and vanished into the void.]

[You attempted to sever the black thread. You successfully touched it and barely cut it using Thunder Art.

At the moment the black thread snapped, the Paper Person froze. Vaguely, you saw a twisted, furious ghostly face appear in the void.

You put the Paper Person into your pack and left the inn.]

"Puppets on strings!"

Jiang Qiao narrowed his eyes as the phrase surfaced in his mind.

"Maybe the Shadow Figures inside the Paper People are the true Vicious Ghosts!"

Jiang Qiao recalled plots from some novels he had read before, and an image emerged in his mind:

Some mysterious existence had sealed Vicious Ghosts inside Paper People, then indirectly controlled the Vicious Ghosts by manipulating the Paper People.

The black thread behind the Paper People was the tool used to control them from afar!

"It's only a guess, but it's possible."

"Besides, this black thread can pull the Vicious Ghost away after the Paper Person is damaged."

"The ghostly thing behind these Paper People is pretty environmentally conscious. It knows how to recycle resources."

"Not simple."

"If I hadn't gained Dual Pupils, I wouldn't have been able to see that thread, let alone touch it!"

The twisted, furious face in the void showed that touching it had struck a sore spot!

That was good!

He would keep at it next time!

Jiang Qiao nodded in satisfaction, but then became somewhat puzzled.

What exactly was going on in Bin City?

The Pregnant Female Ghost, the evil Paper People, and the gigantic human silhouette the survivors had mentioned...

Each was stranger than the last.

Besides, who knew what other monsters were lying in wait!

Were other cities this terrifying too?

If they were,

then what the hell chance did humanity have?

They might as well get a coffin made and lie down in it already!

[Day Six. You found a motorcycle for transportation, fueling it with gasoline from abandoned cars found everywhere.

You discovered that there were sometimes as many Vicious Ghosts in the city as stray dogs, roaming in packs.

Yet at other times, you could go for a long time without encountering a single one. Who knew where they were hiding.]

[Day Seven. You studied the Paper Person, but accidentally destroyed it. The Vicious Ghost inside regained its freedom and planned to repay your kindness with hostility.

You taught it a lesson and bricked it into a wall, leaving only its fine ghostly head exposed.

You used it to test the severed hand.

You discovered that the severed hand's slaps could stun Vicious Ghosts.

You were very satisfied!]