Bloody Scroll

As Fang Linyan looked at the three prompts, he narrowed his eyes. In terms of rewards, the first and second options were clearly the least risky and could basically guarantee some kind of gain.

But Fang Linyan was certain about what he needed right now. It came down to four words!

Combat power!

He was in a world where the weak were prey for the strong. Weakness meant death, meant being eliminated! So Fang Linyan needed to grow stronger as quickly as possible to protect himself.

That made the choice in front of him, which had seemed so difficult, much easier to solve.

First, Fang Linyan still had no idea what potential points and common points were for, so he ruled out the first option.

Second, from the moment Contractor 91UK3 was attacked until she died, more than five minutes had passed. If she'd had any item that could increase her combat power or even turn the tables, she would surely have used it already. So he ruled out the second option as well.

That left only the third option, the one that could meet Fang Linyan's needs right now. The chance of getting nothing was as high as sixty-seven percent, and he might not even be able to use whatever he drew.

Even so, Fang Linyan chose it without hesitation. Life was a gamble, after all. And although he had no idea how this damned space worked, the principle that greater risks brought greater rewards held true everywhere.

The blood-red light gradually faded. Fang Linyan took a deep breath as his heart began to pound. Yes, he could already make out the faint outline of a scroll within the light. That meant his luck had been pretty good this time.

Soon, a scroll appeared in the palm of his hand. It seemed to be made of mysterious parchment, covered in strange, uncanny patterns that looked like a cross between Latin and cuneiform. A faint red glow lingered over it.

Fang Linyan deliberately tested it. He spread the parchment across the center of his right palm, then politely asked a flight attendant for a glass of water with ice cubes. He held out his open hand to receive it.

Under normal circumstances, if the flight attendant could see the parchment, she would have warned Fang Linyan to be careful not to get his personal belongings wet. After all, it looked like a precious artifact with quite a story behind it. Instead, she simply smiled without saying a word and placed the glass in his right hand.

That was enough to convince Fang Linyan that ordinary people around him couldn't see the scroll. He then gripped the parchment tightly, and a stream of information immediately flowed from it into his mind.

Grappling Mastery Scroll (Bloody)

Rarity: Blue

Effect: Grants you the basic ability upgrade: Grappling LV2

Requirements: Strength of at least 5 points, Stamina of at least 5 points.

Additional information: Grappling LV2 belongs to a completely different school of combat from Striking. It focuses on control, locks, grappling, and throws. Once you get close to an opponent, it's extremely difficult to deal with. Its corresponding drawback is that you must get close to your opponent to bring its power to bear. Increases your success rate when locking, grappling, or throwing an opponent by 12%.

This skill is a prerequisite for learning throws and joint locks. The higher your Strength, the greater your success rate with Grappling.

Additional information: You must have mastered Basic Melee, Basic Footwork, and Basic Stamina before you can learn this ability.

Additional information: The level of the advanced ability Grappling cannot exceed the levels of Basic Melee, Basic Footwork, and Basic Stamina. (In other words, you must first raise the levels of these three basic abilities before you can raise the level of this advanced ability.)

Prompt: This is a Bloody Scroll, obtained by killing a Contractor. Once you meet the prerequisite conditions, you can learn the ability at no cost.

After seeing the Bloody Scroll, Fang Linyan took a deep breath, then let out a helpless sigh.

Yes, he checked his requirements and found that although he met those for Basic Footwork and Basic Stamina, he was missing Basic Melee. So even though this was a Bloody Scroll that could be learned at no cost, all he could do was look at it longingly.

"Still better than having a sixty-seven percent chance of drawing nothing," Fang Linyan consoled himself.

He then racked his brain, trying to figure out how he could improve his Basic Melee in this world. Unfortunately, one idea after another was quickly discarded, for the simple reason that he was short on time.

Plans never kept up with changes. Fang Linyan had originally planned to get everything done in Washington in three hours, but it had taken nearly twenty hours before he finally boarded his return flight to Boston. After calculating things again and again, he concluded that he had at most three and a half hours of free time left. That clearly wasn't enough to earn himself the Basic Melee LV1 label.

There was another important point: he had entered in Descent Mode. Would the skills he learned in this body still be available after he returned to his home world? The chances seemed slim.

Given the circumstances, Fang Linyan could only sigh with regret and abandon his unrealistic dream of learning Grappling Mastery from the Bloody Scroll in this world. Then he activated his backup plan.

What was his backup plan?

Fang Linyan had already studied the main mission carefully. It explicitly required him to board American Airlines Flight 11. The mission prompt was exceptionally clear: this was only the beginning of a nightmare! It also said that choosing to enter this world had been a mistake.

From that, it wasn't hard to deduce that he might face great danger on the plane!

An airplane was a very special place:

It was a cramped, completely enclosed space, while the environment outside was extremely hostile. If something went wrong, survival would be difficult. On top of that, passengers had to pass through strict security checks before boarding.

All these factors combined imposed significant limitations. To make the upcoming mission a little easier—or, more bluntly, to improve his chances of survival—Fang Linyan had to make some preparations.

There was a fairly large town within five kilometers of the airport. Fang Linyan first went to a supermarket, then to a hardware store, and bought a whole travel bag's worth of supplies. By the time he'd finished, only a little under three hours remained of his three and a half hours.