This Seat, Truly

"So much experience in one go!"

"At this rate, 20,000 points doesn't seem so difficult after all." Chen Jue looked at the new notification, then glanced at the long progress bar for [Hidden Weapon Throwing].

He had expected to be stuck at the Master-level Lv5 for a year or a half, but he hadn't expected to find a shortcut to leveling up so quickly; this was a pleasant surprise.

However, after one of their companions was pinned down, the group of rats became vigilant.

He waited for nearly five minutes until, finally, a squeaking sound drifted over from the trash cans.

Chen Jue narrowed his eyes to observe, discovering it was the same slightly larger, bolder Rat Vanguard from before.

It crept up to the tail-severed rat that had been pinned down, observing the situation while squeaking, as if calling out to its dead companion while providing cover for the "Food-Crime Gang" hiding in the shadows behind the trash cans.

But before two seconds had passed, another lethal iron nail tore through the air.

With a "thwack," this bold Rat Vanguard was also headshot by a nail, dying right beside the trash can.

Chen Jue, still holding his throwing pose, once again gained +100 proficiency in [Hidden Weapon Throwing].

"They shouldn't come out again, right?"

Chen Jue stood where he was, continuing to observe.

He had thought he might need to change locations or come back later.

He hadn't expected there to be some who truly feared no death!

A rat head poked out from behind the trash can again; it was likely out to scout the enemy's situation.

Unfortunately, this second Rat Vanguard was poorly informed, and just as it poked half its body out into the dim light at the end of the alley:

"Thwack!" It was struck directly by a flying iron nail, its claws scratching wildly, causing the plastic trash can to rattle with a da-da-da sound. After a few flutters, its health bar hit zero.

[Hidden Weapon Throwing] proficiency +100 again!

"Not bad, didn't come here for nothing!"

Chen Jue smiled slightly, feeling very satisfied.

Compared to playing games online, there was more fun in this real-life hunting.

Plus, it was for the sake of eliminating "pests" for the public, so the sense of achievement was quite significant.

After waiting for about five minutes without seeing any new rats emerge, Chen Jue temporarily left the dark alley.

With three companions caught in a row, it was estimated that these food-crime perpetrators had been sufficiently intimidated.

Chen Jue first went to Laxi Street to walk around, buying a cup of Mixue Ice Cream & Tea lemonade to quench his thirst.

The street snacks had strong flavors and were heavily seasoned, making his mouth prone to dryness afterward.

Worried about his weight rebounding, Chen Jue ordered the lemonade without any sugar.

Although it's not a high-calorie tea drink like milk tea, I still have to be careful, Chen Jue thought to himself, considering buying a decent thermos for himself.

He could take a few sips whenever he wanted to replenish the water his body needed.

In the past, he hadn't paid much attention to his health, usually going to convenience stores or small supermarkets to buy bottled water and drinks, occasionally joining afternoon tea activities initiated by his colleagues.

Ever since he awakened the panel, he had become increasingly focused on these small, daily habits.

If he had hemorrhoids, he ate less heavy, greasy food, especially avoiding spicy dishes.

If he had gallstones, he regulated his meal times, making sure to eat breakfast.

As for his thinning hair, there was no solution for now; Chen Jue could only pay attention to personal hygiene, making sure to wash his hair frequently and change his pillowcases and sheets often.

Because he had an oily constitution, he would be greasy from head to toe after a busy day, which easily allowed mites and bacteria to breed in his bedding.

After finishing the lemonade and watching the stage performance for a while, Chen Jue slipped back into the alley in the dark about half an hour later.

It was likely that a sanitation worker had come in to clean up, as the large trash cans used for food waste were all empty, and even the crime scene of the three squeaky deaths had been cleared away.

Without these leftovers, the remaining food-crime perpetrators naturally wouldn't risk coming out again.

There should be a large trash transfer station around here, right? Chen Jue thought to himself. He went out to look and truly discovered the silhouette of a green garbage truck.

This was a specialized vehicle for collecting food waste, currently cleaning the smaller trash cans outside the food court. The process was fully automated; a mechanical arm extended from the top, hooked onto the standard trash can, lifted it, and dumped it, making the cleanup very advanced and efficient.

Seeing this, Chen Jue hurriedly ran to the parking lot to get his car and followed the food waste truck.

After following for more than 10 minutes, they didn't reach a trash transfer station, but instead found several dark, sewage-filled corners, all of which were small trash transfer points for the nearby university town's dining and commercial streets.

He first marked them on his navigation and continued to follow the truck.

After about another 20 minutes, he finally reached the destination.

What met his eyes was the Binjiang Industrial Park's waste centralized treatment plant, surrounded by fences and high walls, with a large-scale waste processing factory inside.

Food waste, being rich in oils and organic matter, could be turned from waste into treasure through the classification of these treatment plants, becoming fertilizer, animal feed, or even biogas for power generation.

Seeing that he couldn't get inside, Chen Jue realized that such a professional processing plant must have its own set of hygiene standards, and it was unlikely he would find any rats or cockroaches in the vicinity.

He had no choice but to drive back to the transit stations he had passed earlier, sweeping through them one by one.

After all, he was out here jungling!

Who would just camp one single spawn point and keep farming it?

How much gold would that even yield?

Besides, jungle creeps need time to respawn, don't they?

Roaming with intuition and switching between bushes to camp—no, to gank rats—was the mandatory curriculum for any qualified jungler.

It took two hours to clear out all the marked trash-filled transit stations.

Chen Jue had killed a total of 24 rats by throwing nails.

In one night, he had gained 2,410 points of proficiency in [Hidden Weapon Throwing], consuming 30 nails in total with an astonishing hit rate of 83%.

Although this was his first time out hunting rats, this efficiency was already remarkably high.

However, after destroying a gathering spot for "food-criminals" at the very end, the panel provided some different notifications:

[Ding~]

[You have completed a perfect night-time practical application of hidden weapons. Your hand muscle groups and joint tissues have been effectively exercised, and your instantaneous hand explosive power has increased.]

[Strength +0.01]

[Ding~]

[After searching for targets in a dark environment for an extended period, you have begun to slowly adapt to dim, low-light conditions. Your night vision has been slightly enhanced, your hearing has been marginally improved, and your focus has become increasingly sharp.]

[Constitution +0.01]

[Spirit +0.01]

[Ding~]

[Through long-term observation of rat activity, you have gained a deeper understanding of the physical structure and living habits of these small rodents. When using hidden weapons against them again, you will find their weak points with greater ease.]

[Title Acquired: Rat Hunter]

[Title Effect: You can more quickly track the movements of small rodents, identify their weaknesses, and capture them.]

[Title Description: Oh, us poor little rats... we're truly miserable!]

"Another critical hit!"

"Not bad at all!"

Putting away the round nails in his hand, Chen Jue looked at the panel with excitement.

Practicing darts at night was truly taxing on the eyes, especially since he frequently used a life hack to adjust the angle of his glasses.

Doing this could temporarily change the lens angle to improve corrective function, but staring at distant objects for too long easily fatigued the eyes and could even worsen his nearsightedness.

However, the results were truly outstanding!

Staring at moving rats for so long not only allowed Chen Jue to gradually adapt to the darkness of these alleys and street corners, but also helped his body grow accustomed to such high-intensity, full-power dart-throwing motions.

Most importantly, this was the first time Chen Jue had seen a notification regarding an increase in his hearing.

Is it because I've been listening to the faint squeaks of rats so much?

The surrounding environment is so noisy, with cars coming and going; it's certainly not easy to hear a rat's squeak, Chen Jue thought to himself.

Previously, by relying on [Eye Health Exercises] and exposure to the red light of the sun, he had stumbled upon a way to train his eyes, causing his vision to improve day by day.

Now that he had triggered an improvement in his hearing, Chen Jue became increasingly interested in and expectant of the prompts provided by this panel.

Glancing at the time, it was already 10 o'clock, so Chen Jue drove back to the talent apartments.

He stored the remaining nails in the trunk of his car so they would be easy to grab whenever he went out for night-time rat hunting again.

As for the filming equipment and face mask he had bought in advance, Chen Jue planned to leave them in the car as well, intending to take them out to film whenever he had the chance.

He had to slowly build up his "Master of Unique Skills" account to generate some side income for himself.

Back in his room, he washed up and got into bed.

He reviewed the day's gains and took the opportunity to record the stats he had farmed and the key information from the panel prompts into an app.

If an outsider or the app's operator saw these data logs, they would likely assume Chen Jue was playing some kind of MUD text-based game and planning his daily routine.

Only Chen Jue himself knew how much he had changed since this panel had appeared!

"Night vision... and hearing..."

After finishing his notes, Chen Jue muttered to himself and searched online for relevant information.

Night vision ability is categorized under visual acuity, and there are no specific methods for improving it online; for now, Chen Jue only possesses [Eye Health Exercises] and the three-minute red light therapy.

However, upon seeing the symptoms of night blindness related to night vision, Chen Jue's eyes suddenly lit up.

The currently known causes of night blindness are divided into three types: temporary, acquired, and congenital.

The root cause of night blindness is related to a lack of raw materials for the synthesis of rhodopsin in the rod cells of the retina, or pathologies within the rod cells themselves.

As for how to treat or improve it, the internet listed several methods.

"Eat more Vitamin A and beta-carotene?"

"Animal liver, carrots, cod liver oil, all of these work..." Although Chen Jue does not have night blindness, he knows these things can improve vision, so he naturally wouldn't just sit by and watch.

He searched on Taobao and immediately placed an order for a popular brand of cod liver oil; it wasn't expensive, only about 160 yuan a bottle for an imported product, and he intended to try supplementing his diet.

As long as he tries it for a period of time to see if the panel gives any prompts, he can roughly deduce whether this method of dietary improvement for vision is actually useful.

As for how to train adult auditory ability, there are no particularly perfect programs on the market at the moment, mostly just simple training for the auditory sensitivity of newborns.

It seems I still need to find practical experience, or find an old master who understands eye and ear techniques to learn from, Chen Jue thought to himself.

He glanced at the time on his phone; it was almost 10:30.

He had to get up early tomorrow to train by chasing the sunrise, and having exhausted himself throughout the night, Chen Jue turned off his phone and went to sleep early.

However, less than an hour after he had fallen into a sound sleep, several sanitation workers on the night shift at the Binjiang Waste Processing Plant were huddled together, puzzled, discussing the strange events that had occurred that night.

"Old Wu, did you find dead rats on your route too?"

"Yeah! The route I ran tonight was truly haunted. I caught seven or eight dead rats just by the trash cans all night, and they were all nailed down! It's extremely bizarre!"

"Huh?"

"You guys also ran into rats killed by nails? I found a few here too!"

Normally, encountering dead rats is not a rare occurrence; for those like them who deal with kitchen waste year-round, they have long been accustomed to the carcasses of various small animals.

Sometimes when opening a trash can, finding a few stray cats or dogs that drowned inside is also a common occurrence.

Having seen so much, they had long since become numb to it.

But rats nailed to the ground were something they had encountered for the first time!

And when the sanitation workers put their heads together, they realized they had found over 20 rats killed in the same way that night; no matter how they looked at it, it felt wrong.

Consequently, they reported the situation directly to the duty manager of the waste processing plant.

When that manager, who was balding from staying up late, arrived and looked at the rat carcasses lined up, all pierced through by nails, his eyes went wide with shock.

Unlike the carcasses of other stray animals, rat carcasses must be collected and incinerated upon discovery; if not handled properly, it could easily lead to a major disaster like the plague.

"Could someone be intentionally dumping dead rats?"

The duty manager's mind raced, and he immediately felt that the situation was serious. He hurriedly called the Binjiang District Center for Disease Control and Prevention, asking them to send someone to take the rats back for testing, and simultaneously called the local police station to report the incident.

After all, the plague is no joke; in China, it is classified as a Category A infectious disease, on par with cholera. Once discovered, it must be reported to the epidemic prevention station within the specified time, and it cannot be taken too seriously.