Shadow Assault

The next day.

Just like yesterday, Li Ran prepared breakfast for his wife and son, left a note, and headed out.

He did not take the elevator or the stairwell downstairs.

Instead, he used Shadow Escape to traverse the shadows of the high-rise building to reach the ground.

His goal was to avoid the murderous Wang Gan from 1304.

Yesterday, his golden finger had warned him that he was being targeted by the murderer, and he had also received a mission to eliminate him.

Li Ran would not clash with this murderer until he possessed absolute, overwhelming strength.

Through these past two days, Li Ran's understanding of Happy Home remained far from thorough.

Su Bingyao's words from last night were crucial.

Because of them, he had figured out the reason behind the fleshy, obese man's frantic eating and why Deng Zhiwei had transformed into a monster.

One must be asleep before midnight!

If one failed to sleep by this time, the intangible Desire Virus would invade the body. Once triggered or if emotions spiraled out of control, one would instantly transform into a monster. The more obsessive the desire, the stronger the monster, though death was also a possibility.

In other words, the murderer was not the strongest monster here.

There existed monsters with even stronger desires and obsessions!

After showering last night, Li Ran noticed that the gap in the door Su Bingyao had left for him had widened slightly.

Upon returning to the room, he had intended to ask Su Bingyao some questions about the residential complex, but seeing his cold and beautiful wife already asleep in bed, he simply lacked the nerve to approach.

Thus, they shared a room, but not a bed.

Perhaps because his nerves had been too tightly strung during the day, he fell asleep on the tatami mat shortly after lying down.

As for what happened after midnight, he remained completely oblivious.

"Li Ran, I'm over here."

Song Linjia came running from a distance.

Compared to yesterday, Song Linjia's state was quite good.

Before nightfall, Li Ran had sent the information about needing to sleep before midnight to Song Linjia, Chen Jiabin, and Xiao Yi respectively.

As for Deng Zhiwei, he had already turned into a monster; if his desire and obsession were strong enough, he might even be a very powerful one.

"After I received your message yesterday, I hurried to sleep," Song Linjia said.

Li Ran nodded and said, "Let's find the others to regroup, gather information, and then proceed with the mission."

"Mm."

At the entrance of the complex.

"Xiao Yi, why didn't Chen Jiabin come? Didn't we agree on this?" Song Linjia said, displeased.

"Forget it, let's just do the mission ourselves. Where did you say that strange old lady was yesterday?"

"I'll take you there."

"Alright."

In truth, Li Ran could roughly guess why Xiao Yi and Chen Jiabin had stood them up.

His performance yesterday had been too eye-catching, inciting someone's jealousy.

Although nothing was said, certain expressions and details had not escaped Li Ran's eyes, especially with the clear prompts from his golden finger.

Conversely, Li Ran had no intention of teaming up with Xiao Yi; the man gave him the impression of being difficult to get along with.

Song Linjia was different; she was kind-hearted, straightforward, and open.

If a teammate did well, she would offer sincere congratulations and admiration.

Furthermore, she had her own principles.

Teaming up with someone like that was very comfortable.

By the side of the lotus pond, a frail figure came into their view.

With a stumbling gait and a slightly hunched spine, her black hair was streaked with strands of white frost. Her eyes were deeply sunken into their sockets, and her wrinkled face was covered in age spots. Her hands were mapped with earthworm-like veins, and she swayed as she walked, looking as though every step was a struggle.

"The old lady looks quite pitiful. I want to go up and help her, but..." Song Linjia said.

Song Linjia was very kind-hearted. If this were the real world, she might have already helped the old lady.

The two stood fifty meters away from the old lady, not daring to rush forward to help, even though she looked pathetic.

The old lady took small, mincing steps, swaying uneasily by the lotus pond like a lost child who couldn't find their way home.

"I want to do this mission, but I'm afraid there's danger," Song Linjia said. She looked at Li Ran and asked, "I wonder if we can do this as a team? But you're so powerful."

Li Ran saw through her concerns; it was nothing more than not wanting to miss out on this mission. Finding a mission clue was not easy, and if she handed it over, she would certainly be unwilling, as she was the one who had discovered the old lady.

"Fine. You provided the information, so you deserve credit. If I complete this mission, I will split half the points with you," Li Ran said candidly.

Attribute points could not be distributed manually; they were automatically allocated upon mission completion.

However, players can trade points.

Song Linjia nodded readily: "No problem. Those who are capable should do more, I'll just take a commission as an intermediary."

Li Ran thought this was quite good; it saved him from running around the residential complex like a headless chicken, which would be time-consuming and exhausting, potentially leaving him with no leads at all.

It was better to let other players provide the leads while he used his hidden hints to complete tasks quickly and rapidly increase his strength.

Li Ran liked chatting with teammates like this; they said what was on their minds without needing to hide or hold back.

Teammates like Xiao Yi, on the other hand, gave a completely different feeling. It felt like every sentence had a hidden meaning or an ulterior motive, making it impossible to guess which of his words were sincere and which were hypocritical.

In short, Li Ran did not want to associate with such people.

"Then wait here, I'll go over and assess the situation first," Li Ran said.

"Mm."

Li Ran slowly approached along the cobblestone path, his gaze sweeping sharply over the old woman.

Several lines of a hint panel appeared above the old woman's head.

(Grandma Mi)

(S-rank Spirit Infection Entity)

(Weird Power: ???)

(Hint: Ever since Grandma Mi's grandson went missing, her sanity has deteriorated day by day; she constantly fantasizes that her grandson is still alive.)

(Hint: Putting on that tattered garment will bring you good luck; she will mistake you for her grandson.)

(Hint: You can purchase a Underwater Breathing Potion in advance.)

Upon seeing the lines of hint information above the old woman's head, Li Ran gasped sharply.

He changed his forward steps into a retreat.

"S-rank, unknown Weird Power?"

He couldn't believe that such a set of data would appear on a frail old woman.

Is the old woman in front of me even more terrifying than Wang Gan? Li Ran was secretly shocked.

After reading the hints, Li Ran realized his back was drenched in cold sweat.

Damn it, if I didn't have the hints, wouldn't I have been finished in an instant?

"The tattered clothing I fished out of the lotus pond yesterday must have been her grandson's. In other words, if I put on that clothing, I can disguise myself as her grandson to complete the task?"

"But... what's with the Underwater Breathing Potion?"

Watching Li Ran walk back while retreating, Song Linjia felt puzzled: "Even you can't handle it?"

"Wait for me here for a moment," Li Ran said, then headed toward the direction of the residential complex.

He arrived once again at the Happiness Supermarket at the entrance of the complex.

Li Ran searched row by row through the display cabinets and found the Underwater Breathing Potion in a corner cabinet.

[Underwater Breathing Potion, costs 100 points, Yes/No]

"Yes."

One hundred points were deducted.

Li Ran still had 1360 points left.

"Such special items are clearly much more expensive than daily necessities."

After purchasing the potion, Li Ran did not rush to leave.

He opened the Point Mall.

This mall was not the supermarket in front of him, but a window that players could open independently after entering the Weird World, visible only to themselves.

In the Point Mall, one could purchase equipment, weapons, items, skill books, attribute cards, and the like.

Li Ran glanced roughly through the equipment section.

He skipped over the common and excellent equipment, locking his gaze onto the fine-quality gear.

Currently, he was wearing three pieces of equipment: two fine-quality and one excellent.

All three were top-tier, carrying either skills or passives.

In the Point Mall, one could buy a piece of fine-quality equipment for 1000 points, but the cheap ones had average attributes and no skills or effects; those with special effects, skills, and high attributes were generally over 2000 points.

"These points must be spent where they count."

In the Weird World, no one knew whether an accident or tomorrow would arrive first.

Only by increasing his own strength as quickly as possible could he improve his chances of survival.

"Let's check the skill section."

Li Ran decisively abandoned the equipment section.

His 1360 points were in an awkward middle ground; if he bought something, he always felt something was missing, but if he didn't, he felt that saving the points would be pointless if he ended up dead.

It was quite contradictory, so it was better to look at other items in the shop.

The skill level classifications were the same.

Li Ran also directly ignored the Common and Excellent tiers, looking straight at the Fine area.

Of course, if he had enough points, he would definitely look at the Rare ones.

But that was clearly unrealistic.

When it came to skills, he had always firmly believed that quality mattered more than quantity.

Therefore, choosing a skill that suited him was crucial.

A good skill could allow a player to become even more formidable.

Soon, Li Ran finished looking through everything, his gaze locking onto one skill book.

[Skill Book: Shadow Assault]

[Quality: Fine]

[Requirement: Ghost Power 160]

[Active Skill: Activating this skill enters the user into a stealth state, briefly increasing speed and strength. Hitting a target deals damage, breaks stealth, and performing a backstab or throat-slitting maneuver doubles the damage. Stealth duration applies.]

"A skill similar to an assassin's, paired with my Shadow Escape, couldn't be better. I can lurk, I can ambush, and even if I can't win, I can still run. This skill is just too perfect for a 'survivalist' like me."

Thinking of this, Li Ran decisively purchased [Shadow Assault].

He spent 1300 points.

Only 60 points remained.

As the points were deducted, a wisp of dark radiance condensed before Li Ran, and a black-covered skill book appeared right in front of him.

"Learn."

Li Ran tapped it with his finger, and the black-covered skill book transformed into thousands of strands of black energy that burrowed into his fingertip, immediately spreading along his arm to his limbs and bones.

Suddenly, Li Ran felt a surge of brand-new memories flooding into his brain.

They were the techniques and combat training for executing the [Shadow Assault] skill.

The influx of these memories made it feel as if Li Ran had been born knowing this skill, without the slightest sense of dissonance or discomfort.

"Very good. With this skill, my sense of security has increased quite a bit."

Li Ran was very satisfied, then closed the point shop and returned to the residential complex.

"You were gone for so long?" Song Linjia asked.

"I was just gathering some information and went to prepare some things," Li Ran said.

Upon hearing this, Song Linjia's dark, round eyes scanned Li Ran suspiciously: "You clearly haven't even walked over there yet, so how did you get information?"

"Once you complete a few more tasks and your points are high enough to exchange for skills in the shop, you won't find it strange anymore."

He couldn't reveal his golden finger, so the best way was to shift the blame to the point shop; it wasn't strange to acquire special abilities by learning skills there.

Besides, it was a logical explanation.

Song Linjia sighed: "Sigh, when will I ever have enough points to buy things?"

"You will soon," Li Ran comforted her, then took out a tattered blue denim jacket that was still recognizable as such and put it on.

Song Linjia looked at Li Ran's strange actions with disbelief.

"What are you doing? Playing a beggar?"

"A quest item."

The denim jacket had been in his storage space for a day and had miraculously dried out. Li Ran tidied it up a bit so he wouldn't look too much like a beggar, though the size was slightly small.

Fortunately, he had a tall and well-proportioned build, so he could pull off any kind of clothing, and it didn't look too out of place.

"A ragged piece of clothing is a quest item? I don't believe a word of it." Song Linjia rolled her eyes speechlessly.

Li Ran walked up to the old woman and greeted her politely: "Do you need any help, Grandma?"

The old woman, who was taking small, shuffling steps, slowly raised her head to stare at Li Ran.

"Who are you... you... you are not my grandson... don't you dare try to trick me, I... I won't be fooled again."

"Grandma, I'm not tricking—"

Just as Li Ran was about to explain, the old woman's hand suddenly elongated, transforming into a tentacle that swiftly wrapped around Li Ran's neck.

"What the... what is going on here?"