Picking Up "Trash" is the True Way

(His gastrin secretion is excessive, caused by the absence of the "hunger nerve" in the central nervous system. Please stay away immediately!)

A prompt panel appeared above the man's head.

Gastrin is a hormone secreted by the stomach that stimulates the central nervous system to produce feelings of hunger.

Watching the man gorge himself frantically, his belly as bloated as a pig's, reminded Li Ran of an experiment his teacher had once described in a biology class on Blue Star.

If the satiety nerve in a mouse's brain is removed, it will never eat again, feeling no hunger; even with a feast before it, it will starve to death.

If the hunger nerve in a mouse's brain is removed, the mouse will eat incessantly; even when it becomes so obese it looks like a monster and lies paralyzed in its cage, it will still feel an intense hunger until it eats itself to death.

The man at this moment was just like a mouse missing its "hunger nerve."

He would eat endlessly until his stomach burst and he died.

The man's face was twisted in agony, yet his hands continued to shove food into his mouth, his voice muffled as he cried out, "Ugh... so hungry... so hungry... so hungry..."

In just this short span of time, Li Ran saw the man's belly expand by a significant margin.

It had reached the absolute limit of how far a human stomach could stretch.

"Hey man, stop it, you're really going to explode!"

At this moment, the man's belly felt like a balloon on the verge of bursting.

Veins stood out clearly on the distended skin, the blood vessels stretched and deformed.

Li Ran could even see several stretch marks snapping on the surface of the man's abdomen.

Li Ran stared at the man in disbelief, taking steps backward.

"AH!!!!"

Suddenly, the man spat out a mouthful of food debris and let out a painful scream.

"So hungry... so hungry... so hungry... AH!!!"

The man screamed in agony while shouting about his hunger, his belly swelling to an extreme, grotesque degree.

"RIIIP!!"

Just then, Li Ran saw the skin of the man's massive belly tear open, just as if someone had sliced a balloon, and the bloody wound surged, rolled, and expanded.

"RIIIP!!"

"RIIIP!!"

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

Li Ran's face turned deathly pale.

He took off running toward the outside of the pavilion, sprinting at full speed.

"WHOOSH~~~~~~~~~~~~~~"

"GURGLE~~~~~~~~~~~~~"

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

Li Ran ran a long way, until he could no longer hear any sound from behind.

He could not find the words to describe his current state of mind.

A living person had exploded right before his eyes!

That was a human, not a balloon!!

Yet he had burst!

Li Ran could hardly believe what he had just witnessed.

The level of horror within the residential complex far exceeded his imagination.

His intuition told him that the fat man who had just exploded was very likely his teammate.

Because the man's entire face had been deformed, he could not identify the man's original appearance.

"In such a short time, two teammates have already died."

He didn't know why the fat man had been eating so frantically, consuming such an absurd amount of food.

Li Ran guessed it was highly likely he had been infected by a virus.

Otherwise, how could a person eat themselves to the point of exploding?

These bizarre and inconceivable phenomena shattered Li Ran's perception of the world.

"I must increase my strength as quickly as possible, or I won't even know how I died."

"As it stands, the activity range within the complex is large; even if there is danger, there is enough room to escape. As long as I don't court death, there shouldn't be too much danger."

"The buildings, however, are more dangerous. If the Desire Virus is airborne, then I fear none of the residents in the entire complex will be spared."

"Therefore, it is highly probable that every resident in this complex has been infected."

Li Ran walked toward the residential park, analyzing the problems he currently faced along the way.

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

"Tasks are triggered randomly; it could be encountering a person, experiencing a certain event, or even picking up some item..."

"Wait..."

A flash of inspiration struck Li Ran's mind.

He might have found a way to actively trigger tasks.

Li Ran walked along the path, his gaze wandering over the lawns, flower beds, tree crowns, lounge chairs, and the fitness area.

Upscale residential complexes usually installed fitness equipment downstairs, which residents could use for exercise during their leisure time.

(Search carefully in the sand pit of the pull-up bar area; you might find what you are looking for.)

The prompt appeared above the sand pit.

Li Ran stopped looking elsewhere.

Arriving at the sand pit, Li Ran began digging through the sand with his bare hands.

The sand was not deep and consisted of very soft, fine grains. After some searching, Li Ran truly managed to find something inside.

(A set of keys: Grandpa Ge from the Security Room often exercises here. Being moody and fond of tea, you might want to have a word with him.)

The prompt from his Golden Finger made Li Ran even more certain of his upgrade direction.

Rather than blindly hoping for a lucky break to trigger tasks, it was better to actively seek them out.

And look, hadn't the task arrived?

"As long as I return these keys to their rightful owner, I don't believe I won't trigger a task."

Afterward, Li Ran continued "scavenging" throughout the residential complex.

He looked toward a trash can beside the path.

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

Li Ran: "..."

A line of text appeared above the trash can.

Although the prompt didn't provide anything of value, Li Ran could confirm that there was definitely a shut-in with poor kidney health living in the complex.

Li Ran spotted a pair of large, pink shorts on the branch of a big tree.

(Young girl's underwear: Blown off by the wind, it has been here for a week. Size 5XL.)

"Just how big of a misunderstanding do you have about the waistline of a young girl?" Li Ran said, speechless.

Under a lounge chair, Li Ran's eyes lit up.

(Man's ID card: There is a Beauty Salon on the Back Street of Happy Home where you can find the person on this ID. Additionally, this item can serve as a bargaining chip.)

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

But he didn't dwell on it, casually tossing it into his Storage Space.

Everyone who entered the Weird World possessed a portable Storage Space that could store items.

"I'll find time to check out the Beauty Salon later."

For now, it seemed this item was merely a prop to trigger a task.

In just this short while, Li Ran had already found two useful items.

It turned out that "scavenging" in the residential complex was the way to go.

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

The water was clear, and the blooming lotus flowers looked like young girls dancing gracefully on a jade-green stage, swaying with charm.

"Yo, another new discovery."

In the center of a round, broad lotus leaf, an object was sparkling; from a distance, it looked like a glass marble.

Li Ran picked up a tree branch from the ground and pulled the lotus leaf toward him to see what it was.

"Holy crap!" Li Ran's expression changed, his hand trembling so much he nearly dropped the branch. His hair stood on end instantly: "Who is so wicked, throwing an eyeball onto a lotus leaf?"

And here he thought he had found a treasure.

However, the prompt text popped up by his Golden Finger made Li Ran knit his brows slightly.

(Well-preserved eyeball: Hand this over to the Blind Fortune Teller at the entrance of the residential complex; the accuracy of his fortune-telling will increase by fifty percent, and you can obtain one free reading.)