Done For, He's Been Targeted!

1, 2, 3, 4...

He watched the elevator floor numbers rising steadily.

Finally, it stopped at the 13th floor.

Li Ran frowned slightly, hesitated for a moment, then pressed the elevator call button.

"Ding!"

The other elevator arrived at the first floor.

Li Ran quickly stepped inside and pressed the button for the 13th floor.

It's Zhou Miaomiao.

Before entering the Weird World, he had quickly memorized the information of all twenty-five people, especially the good-looking girls, who left a deep impression on him.

Although Li Ran was a poor student, he knew a thing or two about the goings-on at Yulan Academy; many boys in school had a secret crush on Zhou Miaomiao.

"Ding!"

The elevator arrived at the 13th floor.

He had just stepped out and was about to sneak into the hallway to observe and assess the situation when—

"Ahhh... ah!!"

Suddenly, an extremely shrill scream erupted from Room 1304.

The scream cut off abruptly, and then, the door was flung open violently, revealing a burly man standing in the doorway, his face covered in blood.

"Kid, are you following me?" The burly man glared at Li Ran viciously.

Li Ran froze in place as if struck by lightning. How the hell did he notice me?

A row of text notifications appeared above the burly man's head.

(Name: Wang Gan)

(A-rank Mental Infector)

(Mysterious Power: 500)

(Profile: A fugitive on the run, a heinous madman with five lives on his hands. He can crush your chest with one hand.)

(Warning: This person suffers from extreme paranoia and persecutory delusions. Anyone who enters his line of sight is treated as a suspect. You are about to cross his red line.)

(Reminder: Twice a week, he goes to the Back Street to scout for ladies, only bringing them home after personally vetting them.)

(Reminder: If he targets you, it is best to head to an area with security cameras or find the security guard at the residential complex entrance.)

(Tip: Wander around the complex and take on other tasks; you must increase your strength as soon as possible.)

Li Ran was stunned.

A fugitive? A Murderer?

The burly man had only glanced at him in the elevator on the first floor.

This terrifying guy already suspected him?

The burly man was an A-rank monster with 500 Mysterious Power!

This meant that even if Li Ran reached 500 Mysterious Power, he would need a full set of top-tier equipment just to stand a chance against this monster.

Zhou Miaomiao couldn't possibly be his match!

She must have been assigned the role of a lady, which was why she was targeted by this Murderer, Wang Gan.

Li Ran took a fleeting glance into the room, and the sight made his heart skip a beat.

Behind the living room sofa, half of Zhou Miaomiao's head was visible, and bright red blood flowed from beneath the sofa like a stream, pooling across the living room floor—a truly shocking sight.

With such a terrifying amount of blood loss, she was likely beyond saving.

Li Ran abruptly pulled his gaze back, looking up at the burly man before him in utter horror.

Danger!!!

This guy is extremely dangerous!

Li Ran's brain sent out a blaring alarm.

He saw the blood on Wang Gan's face and the look in his eyes that suggested he wanted to devour a person whole.

(Tip: Retreat to the elevator entrance; he is wary of the camera inside the elevator.)

Seeing the prompt, Li Ran took a few steps back.

He pointed at the floor and feigned anger, saying, "Are you sick? Following you? I'm a resident from downstairs. Could you please check if your bathroom is leaking? It's been dripping all over my place for days. I've put up with you for long enough."

Wang Gan stared at Li Ran with fury.

He was very angry right now, and he wanted to kill!

The woman inside had disappointed him too much; she didn't know how to do anything, yet she dared to come out and sell herself. Even more ridiculously, she had threatened to call the police, so he had killed her in a fit of rage.

And now this guy in front of him, who had followed him from the first floor all the way to the 13th—he was highly suspicious!

If this guy couldn't provide a reason to appease his anger, he would absolutely rip this guy's heart out, eat it bite by bite right in front of him, and then tell him exactly what it tasted like.

"Let me tell you, a leaking ceiling is a big deal; it'll cause hidden dangers over time..."

Li Ran retreated while accusing Wang Gan, the perverted Murderer, of his crimes.

"I know a contractor who specializes in waterproofing. I guarantee your place won't leak for twenty or thirty years."

Li Ran backed up to the elevator entrance, where the doors were slowly beginning to close.

Wang Gan radiated monstrous killing intent, resembling a bloodthirsty, terrifying beast!

"Oh, right, the camera in this elevator was installed by that same contractor. It uses the most advanced technology; it can perform facial recognition instantly, even identifying fugitives on the run," Li Ran said, pointing at the camera in the elevator.

This sentence caused Wang Gan to freeze.

Especially upon hearing "camera" and "fugitive," his expression shifted drastically, and he stared at the man before him in disbelief.

Does he know my identity?

But looking at this man, he didn't look like a police officer at all.

No, he must be lying to me. I've come and gone so many times without issue; how could the elevator camera possibly have facial recognition!

In those few seconds of hesitation, Li Ran slipped into the closing elevator and frantically pressed the button for the first floor.

He hammered the "close door" button like a madman!

"Damn it, nobody lives downstairs!"

Wang Gan suddenly realized he had been played and sprinted toward the elevator.

But he was a step too late; the elevator doors shut.

BOOM!

With a deafening crash, a fist-shaped dent the size of a sandbag appeared on the elevator door in front of Li Ran, causing the entire panel to cave inward.

"Brat, I will tear you into ten thousand pieces!"

"You won't escape!"

Wang Gan's terrifying voice echoed from outside the elevator door.

The elevator descended.

Once that oppressive, terrifying sensation faded, Li Ran realized his back was soaked in cold sweat.

The elevator reached the first floor.

Li Ran bolted toward the exit of the residential complex.

He specifically stuck to areas with surveillance cameras.

He looked back toward the 13th floor.

One glance, and he nearly lost his soul in terror.

At the center window of Room 1304, a tall, imposing figure stood by the glass.

A massive blade made of flesh and tentacles sprouted from its head, and a bloody, gaping maw licked the glass with a gargantuan, gore-stained tongue, tracing shocking streaks of blood!

The bloodstains connected to form a single, chilling character: "Death"!

Seeing this, Li Ran gasped.

He was screwed; he had been targeted!

[Task Triggered: Eliminate the Murderer (Time Limit: 14 days)]

[Task Rewards: Mysterious Power +100, Points +1000, Special Item *1, Special Equipment *1]

Li Ran hadn't expected this to trigger a new task.

Seeing the rewards, he understood the difficulty of this mission.

Wang Gan, this Murderer, was undoubtedly a major boss.

With his current strength, it was impossible.

To take him down, he needed not only sufficient power but also a trump card and a hidden ace.

Li Ran had nothing; what was he supposed to eliminate him with?

He walked through the complex's park.

After walking for a while, he spotted a large, opened bag of chips on the lawn ahead.

Although the complex felt eerie, it was generally very clean, making the snack bag appear quite abrupt.

(A 700g bag of Lay's Potato Chips with 3,000 calories; eating it is equivalent to consuming ten bowls of rice.)

The Golden Finger prompt appeared above the chip bag.

Li Ran was stunned; no wonder they said chips were a "fat-boy killer."

Continuing forward, Li Ran saw several more snack bags scattered on the ground.

There were spicy strips, shrimp crackers, potato chips, rice crusts, instant noodles, sandwiches, and burgers; a quick scan revealed over a dozen bags, all of them a couch potato's favorites.

(A sixteen-inch durian pizza box, containing no actual durian.)

(Fried chicken bones, rough in texture, sourced from eight-legged hormone-injected fast-growth chickens.)

(Milk tea containing no milk; even his urine smells like milk tea.)

"..."

Whenever Li Ran felt a sense of doubt, the prompts would emerge quite naturally.

"It's all just technology and harsh additives."

Continuing forward, Li Ran couldn't help but frown as he looked toward the distance.

Under a pavilion, Li Ran saw a... spherical person.

"A player?" Li Ran felt puzzled. If this were a native of the Weird World, his Golden Finger should have provided a corresponding danger alert.

For instance, identifying a certain rank of Mental Infector, yet this fatty had none.

This meant he was highly likely a player just like Li Ran!

It was just that he had transformed into an extremely obese man.

His limbs were bloated, his belly was distended and massive, and his protruding lower abdomen almost dragged on the ground, resembling a spherical wax mountain about to melt.

The man sat on a stone bench, with various snacks and drinks piled as high as a mountain on the stone table. The entire lawn was littered with discarded snack packaging, dense and layered, so thick there was nowhere to step.

He used both hands to shove food into his mouth in large gulps.

Li Ran couldn't believe that all of that had been consumed by the fatty before him.

The fatty didn't even chew; the food slid directly from his thick neck into his stomach, and his belly rippled with visible peristalsis.

The man's stomach could no longer be called a belly; it looked more like a sphere stretched to the point of deformation, on the verge of exploding.

"Good heavens, just how much has he eaten!"

The fatty frantically shoved food into his mouth, and Li Ran watched as his stomach inflated another dimension, as if it had been pumped full of air.

Li Ran sensed that something was terribly wrong.

New author, new book; seeking recommendations, collections, comments, follow-up reads, and everything else.