Rumors and Strange Tales

After retrieving her belongings from the Treasure Chest Ghost, Feng Xue left the imperfect Landfill Area without looking back.

Although Blondie and the other returning thugs currently seem to have no ill intentions towards him, and the other two families haven't shown up yet, as time goes on, no one knows whether they might set their sights on what he brought back from the outside world.

Theoretically speaking, those who returned from that side should have no shortage of True Thing, but when it comes to [knowledge], no one would complain about having too much.

Not to mention that a new manager will be arriving soon. Information such as his having been to the outside world, knowing the language of outsiders, and being able to communicate with them might be exposed. Given his existing conflicts with the manager, who knows what kind of treatment he might receive?

With the principle of always being cautious, Feng Xue left the Landfill Area, but he didn't go far. Instead, he put on a cardboard box and began to take stock of his belongings.

The first thing to do was change his shoes. Three or four days were far from enough for Feng Xue's chest wound to heal completely. Now, wearing the Boots of Silence again and feeling his life slowly being replenished, he realized just how much of an improvement this small external injury had made in healing.

He didn't take out the remaining cards hidden inside his body; instead, he cut open his flesh again and stuffed the Physical Clone he had previously taken out back in.

This kind of trump card might be needed at any time. Rather than carrying it around, hiding it inside his body gives him peace of mind. It's just that he hasn't successfully crafted a graveyard yet, otherwise, he would also like to stuff those Hand Trap and spells that require a graveyard to take effect into his body.

As the incision on her chest slowly healed, Feng Xue began to try putting the socks and leather shoes from the Phantom of the Opera Set over the Boots of Silence. Thanks to the [Comfort] element, the Phantom of the Phantom of the Opera Set could be adjusted to fit the wearer's body. Even with the already thin Boots of Silence on, it didn't look too bizarre, except for the outline of the socks at the ankles, which looked a bit strange.

However, Feng Xue has always been the most practical person, and this slight disadvantage is obviously not enough for him to give up the opportunity to possess the power of two excellent Phantom Object at the same time.

The Phantom of the Phantom of the Opera Set has a certain Gothic style, with wider cuffs than a regular suit. By loosening the cuff buttons, the Blade of Suffocation can be activated relatively easily.

The only slightly troublesome thing is that there's no place to put the Disassembly Madonna, but that's not a big deal. The storage bag is wide enough to Disassembly Madonna inside. On the contrary, the storage bag needs to be hung on the belt at the waist, and you have to lift up the hem of the shirt to take it out.

"Overall, it doesn't have too much of an impact. I just don't know when I can get a better Storage Item." Feng Xue checked the comedic Phantom Object he had created in the outside world and then stuffed them all into his Storage Bag. It was only because his Storage Bag had the feature of being able to take out whatever he wanted at will that he could put everything in there so messily. Just thinking about it made him feel horrified.

After stuffing the last rolled-up Santa Claus bundle into his bag, Feng Xue turned his gaze to the last book. It could be said that his biggest gain from this trip to reality was this collection of information. However, he had already used up a lot of the elements he had on hand. The remaining ones were either too repetitive or didn't quite fit the books themselves. After considering it, he decided not to force it and instead planned to collect another batch of elements.

But none of that is urgent; he needs to clarify something first.

Pulling out her long-unused employee ID card, Feng Xue dialed Old Li's "phone." After a few brief busy tones, Old Li's slightly cynical voice came through the ID card:

"Hey? Xiao Feng! What's up?"

What are rumors and strange tales?

Feng Xue didn't waste any words and went straight to asking for the information she needed. Old Li was silent for a moment, then after about five seconds, he finally spoke:

"Where did you hear that? Did you go to the outside world? Right, you seem to have saved a gatekeeper before... Wait, that was so long ago, have you been living outside for that long? How do you know so much? Did that gatekeeper bring you in?"

Listening to Old Li's seemingly self-talk as he probed her, Feng Xue ignored his nonsense and said directly, "Do you even know that I've found someone else?!"

"No!" Old Li quickly stopped him, laughing as he said:

"Isn't this a bit surprising? After all, you've only been in Infinite City for a short time. Logically, you shouldn't have come into contact with these things."

"So what exactly is this?" Feng Xue interrupted Old Li's rambling again, because he found that after he said those two words, Old Li became unexpectedly talkative, which reminded him of the contract Old Li had signed with him before.

Does knowing these two words mean I'm more likely to become Weird Tale?

As Feng Xue was thinking this, Old Li finally spoke up:

"Actually, it's quite simple. So-called rumors and strange tales are just a realm that we, the people without knowledge, have defined ourselves to. After all, going from nothingness to Weird Tale is quite a distance. In order to roughly understand how far we are from this realm, such a division of realms is very necessary."

"So, what do the two realms represent?" Feng Xue asked, seemingly impatiently, but actually testing Old Li's thoughts. However, Old Li maintained his usual tone and slowly revealed the information he wanted:

"Rumors are like gossip in the marketplace, they come and go quickly. This level is probably like causing a small sensation in reality and gaining a lot of [knowledge] at once, but without causing enough influence. After all, Real Worlder are very forgetful. Things like major murder cases, except for a few people who are directly involved, most people will forget them quickly."

"In situations where there is a large amount of knowledge, but only a few truly reliable and lasting providers, it goes from [Nothingness] to rumors. This means that although a few people may still remember, if it is not maintained, it will soon return to nothing."

"Strange tales go a step further, having their own legends. For example, the once popular Mr. AIDS Ms. AIDS, who would go to the real world, have relations with Real Worlder, and then leave messages telling them that they had AIDS, linking their fear of themselves with the disease AIDS, thus creating a widely circulated strange tale."

"As the rumors spread, a large amount of superficial [consciousness] will arrive. In fact, with the emergence of some copycats, you will continue to gain more [consciousness]. In this state, your existence will be relatively stable and will not disappear in a short period of time. This kind of existence is what is called an anomalous event."

At this point, Old Li's words carried a hint of nostalgia and longing, which made Feng Xue wonder if Old Li was just putting on an act for her.

So he deliberately didn't ask further, but instead said:

"And what kind of realm are those Weird Tale?"