Picking Up "Trash" Was the Way to Go

(The man's gastrin secretion is excessive, caused by a deficiency in the brain's hunger center. Get away from him as soon as possible!)

A prompt panel appeared above the man's head.

Gastrin was a hormone secreted by the stomach that stimulated the brain's central nervous system and caused a feeling of hunger.

Watching the man eat like a madman, his belly as big as a pig's, reminded Li Ran of an experiment his biology teacher had once described back on Blue Star.

If the satiety center in a little white mouse's brain was removed, it would never eat again. Unable to feel hunger, it would starve to death even with a feast right in front of it.

If the hunger center was removed, the mouse would eat nonstop. Even after becoming so obese it looked like a monster and could barely move in its cage, it would still feel ravenously hungry until it ate itself to death.

The man was just like a little white mouse with its "hunger center" removed.

He would keep eating without end until his belly burst and he died.

Pain twisted the man's face, but his hands kept shoving food into his mouth. He shouted incoherently, "Ugh... I'm so hungry... So hungry... So hungry..."

In the short time it took to blink, Li Ran saw the man's belly swell another huge amount.

It had nearly reached the limit of what a person's stomach could withstand.

"Hey, man, don't do this. You're really going to explode!"

The man's belly looked like a balloon about to burst.

Every vein stood out clearly across his bulging stomach, the blood vessels stretched and deformed.

Li Ran even saw several stretch marks split open beneath the skin of the man's belly...

Li Ran stared at the man in disbelief and backed away, step by step.

"AAAAH!!!!"

Suddenly, the man spat out a mouthful of chewed-up food and let out a scream of agony.

"So hungry... So hungry... So hungry... AAH!!!"

The man screamed and shouted that he was hungry as his belly swelled to an utterly absurd size.

"Riiip!!"

Just then, Li Ran saw the skin over the man's huge belly split open, leaving a bloody gash. It was as if someone had slashed a balloon, and the wound then gaped and spread, blood gushing out.

"Riiip!!"

"Riiip!!"

A series of grating tearing sounds rang in Li Ran's ears.

His face turned deathly pale.

He took off running from the pavilion, sprinting as fast as he could.

"Splashhhhh~~~~~~~~~~"

"Gluuugluglug~~~~~~~~~~"

He heard the sound of a floodgate opening behind him, followed by chunks of flesh raining down.

Li Ran ran a long way,

until he could no longer hear anything behind him.

He couldn't put his feelings into words.

A living person had burst apart right before his eyes!

That was a person, not a balloon!!

But he had burst!

Li Ran could hardly believe what he'd seen.

The strangeness of the neighborhood was beyond anything he had imagined.

His instincts told him that the fat man who had just exploded was probably one of his teammates.

The man's entire face had been deformed, so Li Ran couldn't tell what he had originally looked like.

"Two teammates dead already, and it's only been a little while."

For some reason, the fat man had started eating like crazy, consuming an absurd amount of food.

Li Ran guessed he had probably been infected by the virus.

Otherwise, how could someone eat so much that he burst?

One bizarre thing after another shattered Li Ran's understanding of the world.

"I have to get stronger as soon as possible. Otherwise, I won't even know what killed me."

"From what I can tell, the neighborhood is huge. Even if there's danger, there's plenty of room to run. As long as I don't go looking for trouble, I should be fine."

"The apartment buildings are more dangerous. If the virus of mental desire can spread through the air, then the residents of the entire neighborhood may be doomed."

"So there's a good chance everyone in this neighborhood has been infected."

Li Ran headed toward the neighborhood park, analyzing the problems he had encountered along the way.

"If I do nothing, my chances of surviving these fifteen days are slim."

"Missions are triggered at random. I might run into someone, come across some situation, or even pick something up..."

"Wait..."

A flash of inspiration struck Li Ran.

He might have found a way to trigger missions on purpose.

Li Ran followed the path, letting his gaze wander over the lawns, flower beds, tree canopies, benches, and exercise areas.

More upscale neighborhoods usually had workout equipment downstairs. Residents could get some exercise whenever they had free time after a meal.

(In the sand pit by the pull-up bars, search carefully. You might find what you're looking for.)

A prompt appeared above the sand pit.

Li Ran stopped looking elsewhere.

He went over to the sand pit and rummaged through the sand with his bare hands.

The pit wasn't deep, and the sand was soft and fine. After feeling around for a while, Li Ran really did find something.

(A set of keys: Grandpa Ge from the Security Room often exercises here. He has a volatile temper and loves tea. You might be able to talk to him.)

The prompt from his Golden Finger made Li Ran even more certain about how he should level up.

Rather than blindly wandering around and hoping to trigger missions by chance, he should seek them out.

Look, he'd already found one.

"If I return these keys to their owner, there's no way I won't trigger a mission."

After that, Li Ran kept "picking things up" around the neighborhood.

He looked toward a trash can beside the path.

(You don't actually think the cup with the anime design inside is what you're looking for, do you?)

Li Ran: "..."

A prompt appeared above the trash can.

Although it didn't offer anything particularly useful, Li Ran could tell there was definitely a shut-in with kidney problems somewhere in the neighborhood.

Li Ran spotted a pair of pink, plus-size shorts hanging from a tree branch.

(Young woman's underwear: It blew off in the wind and has been here for a week. Size 5XL.)

"What kind of misunderstanding do you have about young women's waistlines?" Li Ran said, exasperated.

Under a bench, Li Ran's eyes lit up.

(Man's ID card: There's a Beauty Salon on Back Street in Happy Home. You can find the person on this ID there. This item can also be used as a bargaining chip.)

"A bargaining chip?" Li Ran didn't quite understand.

But he didn't dwell on it and casually tossed the ID into his Storage Space.

Everyone who entered the Weird World had a personal Storage Space for storing items.

"I'll check out the Beauty Salon when I have time."

For now, it seemed to be nothing more than an item that could trigger a mission.

In the time it had taken him to walk around, Li Ran had already found two useful things.

So "picking up trash" really was the way to go in the neighborhood.

Li Ran wandered over to the lake in the center of the park.

The water was clear, and the blooming lotuses swayed gracefully, like young women dancing atop a stage of emerald waves.

"Oh, another find."

Something in the middle of a broad, round lotus leaf glinted in the sunlight. From a distance, it looked like a glass marble.

Li Ran picked up a branch from the ground and used it to draw the lotus leaf toward him. Only then could he see what it was.

"Good grief!" Li Ran's face changed. His hand trembled, and he nearly dropped the branch. The hair all over his body stood on end. "Who's so depraved that they'd throw an eyeball onto a lotus leaf?"

He'd thought he'd found a treasure.

But the prompt that appeared from his Golden Finger made Li Ran furrow his brow slightly.

(Well-preserved eyeball: Give it to the Blind Fortune Teller at the neighborhood entrance to increase his fortune-telling accuracy by fifty percent and get a free reading.)