A Little Bit of a Gamble

"You have to be generous when you need to be; you're not a capitalist..."

When Xiao Xiao uttered those two words, his heart was open and filled with lofty sentiments.

This is, after all, a special item of mine.

Once the opportunity to help her level up is presented, how could he possibly sit idly by?

Even if it costs me my own points to help her level up!

Of course, helping her upgrade also involves great risks; if she were to become mutated, it would be very dangerous for me.

But since we're all in this together, why should I care about this little risk?

It has nothing to do with that guarantee!

I simply believed in her!

At the same time that Xiao Xiao shouted those two words, a sudden commotion broke out outside the hospital, or rather the clinic.

Whether it was the Orange Cat perched on the streetlight, the newspaper pasted on the telephone pole, the woman calmly dealing with her husband's passionate advances across from the clinic, or the eyes hidden in a narrow slit where it was almost impossible to hide, they all felt a shiver run down their spines, their hair stood on end, and their hearts began to race with suspicion, as if they were being watched by something.

"The monitoring equipment shows that a considerable amount of Pain Substance are being transferred..."

"So that guy really was transferring the Pain Substance from the Aberrant Seeds into his own special item, right?"

"Is he insane?"

"Aren't you afraid that your special items might suddenly mutate, causing even greater disasters and backlash against you?"

What exactly are they planning?

"..."

"..."

Just as they were looking at each other in bewilderment, an even greater anomaly suddenly appeared above the clinic.

"Strengthen!"

As soon as Xiao Xiao uttered those two words, the city seemed to instantly respond.

Standing in the center of the special room, Xiao Xiao, with a solemn expression, once again felt as if the entire city had come to life. He saw the surrounding walls turn into twisted and life-giving flesh and blood, and he saw the madwomen in the room, as well as the Rabbit Ears in the corridor outside, and Gao Ning and others, all turned into fruits on this huge flesh and blood.

And I am trapped in this indescribable flesh and blood, as lonely as an ant between heaven and earth.

No, it's not absolute loneliness either.

Even in front of this enormous life form, Xiao Xiao could still clearly sense another kindred spirit with whom he was closely connected.

It was that lingering, intertwined melody that hadn't completely faded away.

The cult and eerie music seemed to come alive, resonating in my mind.

It's hard to describe the feeling, because it was just a lively melody that kept echoing in my mind, but because this melody was, to some extent, beyond my control, existing outside of my thoughts, it felt like it had come alive...

This is a strange life form that parasitizes the human mind in the form of melodies.

In fact, everyone has felt its presence; a certain melody might suddenly come to mind and repeat over and over again.

But we've become so accustomed to it that we don't even realize it exists.

At that moment, as the enormous life form revealed its appearance, a gaze suddenly turned towards it.

That gaze fell directly on this life form.

Or rather, it landed on the Old Record Player behind the white curtains in the old alley where I lived.

At this moment, Xiao Xiao's gaze seemed to pierce through countless buildings and sticky flesh and blood.

I saw the Old Record Player right away.

I saw the golden base and body of the Old Record Player, and I also saw the vinyl record that seemed to have a life of its own.

What surprised Xiao Xiao most was that he saw a slender figure standing next to the Old Record Player.

It was vaguely a woman, who seemed to be in a state of extreme excitement, looking up at him.

Those eyes held a smile, yet possessed a power that instantly touched one's soul.

"Hello..."

Xiao Xiao seemed to hear a clear woman's voice in his ear. "My little master..."

"Whoosh..."

Inside the clinic, Xiao Xiao suddenly heard that eerie yet clear voice, and he was inexplicably startled.

A strange thought flashed through my mind, "Is this thing really alive?"

In the chaos, he couldn't tell whether the voice was real or not, but just a moment later, all the illusions receded rapidly.

It felt as if the whole world was moving away from me.

However, the Old Record Player that Xiao Xiao perceived had been given some unusual substances out of thin air.

Not much, just a little bit.

However, the Old Record Player already contained a massive amount of similar substances, which possessed strange powers and had already fundamentally changed everything about the Old Record Player, causing it to undergo an instantaneous and essential upgrade.

"..."

"Beep beep beep—"

At the same moment, the eyes and ears guarding outside the clinic, appearing in various bizarre forms, also noticed the sharp sound of the monitoring ritual. Looking down, they found that their monitoring instruments instantly displayed an unprecedentedly huge peak value.

"As expected, with the transfer and accumulation of Pain Substance, Aberrant Creature appeared?"

The onlookers were terrified and turned to flee.

But then they realized that it didn't seem like an Aberrant Creature had appeared; rather, it seemed like something else had appeared.

The accumulation of Pain Substance led to some subtle qualitative changes.

"Could it be that his special item, instead of undergoing mutation, has actually advanced in quality?"

In an instant, a certain idea flooded everyone's minds, but almost no one was willing to believe it.

Special items have always been used by outsiders as a kind of special weapon. Almost every time they advance to a new stage, they will spend a lot of points to buy a new special item as their weapon. As a result, outsiders have a deep understanding of special items, and naturally know the limits of these special items, as well as certain taboos in their use.

Special items all have the ability to contain Pain Substance of the same system as themselves, but there are limits.

Once this limit is exceeded, it will collapse and cause aberrations.

As the owner, at this time, one must face the backlash of the special item, suffering great losses both inside and out.

Like the legendary Collectors's path, deliberately enhancing special items to gain higher value does exist, but even Collectors are fully prepared before taking such a gamble, and the failure rate is surprisingly high...

But now, he was witnessing one with his own eyes?

It's not that you're being unreasonable, but the fact that you've appeared right in front of me is always a bit hard to believe.

... It's like playing Russian roulette with five bullets; you do have a chance of winning, but I don't believe you can!

"Buzz..."

Just as everyone was in a state of extreme shock and confusion, a piercing, sharp sound suddenly rang in their ears.

It's like being completely focused on doing something and then suddenly being startled.

My thoughts were torn apart, and my mind was in extreme chaos.

Outside the clinic, all the eyes and ears that existed in eerie forms were simultaneously terrified, letting out a scream and shaking violently.

The Orange Cat, which was crouching under a street lamp, seemed to have its tail stepped on. With a shriek, it fell down and crashed into a trash can.

Behind the trash can, however, was a pair of red eyes. Suddenly, the person's body trembled, and they hurriedly crawled through the gap in the trash can into the sewer manhole to escape. However, their attention was momentarily lost, and they fell directly from a height of two or three meters, letting out a miserable scream.

The newspaper covering the telephone pole showed a murderer whose expression changed drastically as he hurriedly flew away.

However, it was run over by a car wheel and plunged into the sewage.

The woman in the opposite room suddenly contorted her face, let out a terrible scream, and sat up abruptly, startling her husband so much that he nearly collapsed.

"What's wrong with you?"

The husband trembled with fear and kept asking questions.

The woman seemed dazed, and it took her a while to come to her senses. She looked at him in surprise and asked, "Are you done again?"

"...yes!"

"How could it be so fast again? I didn't even feel it..."

"I swear to God, this time it took several minutes..."

"..."

As the eerie melody spread from the clinic outwards, a strange aura rushed away like a tidal wave.

They were filled with confusion and doubt, as if there were eyes watching them from afar.

Like music echoing in my mind, it follows me everywhere, impossible to shake off.

"Um?"

Just as the eerie sights around them were being washed away by the sudden terror, across the street, on the rooftop of the tallest building, Yang Jia, wearing a white trench coat, crouched down quietly, her eyes turning suspicious and cold at that moment.

She was originally there as a protector.

They wanted to help Xiao Xiao get rid of those suspicious spies from all over the world who were watching him.

They were also prepared to handle any unplanned crises that might occur around Xiao Xiao if a malignant mutation occurred.

However, all she saw were her informants, and she fled in a panic, as if caught in a nightmare.

Unconsciously, she slowly straightened up and could sense something strange and eerie in the air.

Right beside me, though I can't see them, I can feel them laughing and floating as they watch me.

The other party dared not approach, but surprisingly, they were not afraid of him either.

Her pupils contracted slightly, and an intense sense of unease welled up within her.

"Another item was successfully enhanced?"

"If it were just Pain Hound, that would be one thing, but now..."

"Is this old classmate going to tell me again that he won it all through gambling?"

"..."

"Ding-a-ling..."

But just as she was thinking, her phone suddenly rang. She paused for a moment, then answered the call.

Xiao Xiao's voice came through the microphone quickly. "Yang Jia, is that right?"

"I think I'm confident enough now to help you deal with the problem of the Rotten Kingdom."

"..."

Yang Jia was slightly surprised. Through the clinic window, she saw Xiao Xiao calmly making a phone call to her.

The initial shock slowly subsided, and she said softly, "Really? That's wonderful."

"Who are you..."

She paused briefly, then asked softly, "How did you do that?"

"This..."

Xiao Xiao's voice seemed hesitant at first, then he laughed and said, "I admit, there was definitely an element of gambling involved..."

Do you guys have any clever dirty jokes or eerie music recommendations?