(A tattered piece of clothing: Don't throw it away. It can bring you good luck.)
Li Ran: "???"
The blue piece of clothing on the lake caught his attention. He'd assumed it was just trash in the water, but his Golden Finger had issued a warning.
"This thing can bring good luck?" Li Ran was skeptical, but he still found a branch and fished the tattered clothing out of the water.
After that, Li Ran walked all the way around the lake, but found no other valuable quest items.
"I should finish some quests first and get a little stronger."
Searching aimlessly was time-consuming and exhausting. Before he knew it, the whole morning had passed.
"I'll go to the Security Room and find Grandpa Ge first."
Li Ran had already worked out a route.
Yesterday, when he walked Li Ziyang home, he'd noticed a supermarket by the neighborhood entrance. He could buy some groceries there on his way home tonight.
The Fortune Teller was also near the entrance, which would save him a lot of unnecessary walking.
As for the ID card and tattered clothing, he'd have to see how things went.
With that thought, Li Ran immediately headed toward the neighborhood entrance.
He hadn't gone far when five people came toward him.
"Li Ran."
They recognized him.
But Li Ran didn't recognize them. They seemed vaguely familiar, but not enough for him to place them.
So he greeted them politely. "Fancy running into you here."
"Great! Our group just got bigger."
The speaker was a refined-looking man in black-rimmed glasses. He wore a suit, with his hair slicked back in the style of a high-powered professional, and carried a laptop bag.
"It's me, Xiao Yi." He pointed to himself as he introduced himself, clearly not fooled by Li Ran's all-purpose greeting.
Only then did Li Ran remember hearing his name around school.
Xiao Yi, vice president of the student union at Yulan Academy.
Rumor had it that he was good at handling people and highly capable, and that the teachers and school administrators thought very highly of him.
The other four introduced themselves too.
Qiu Zhongji, with greasy skin and a face full of pimples.
Deng Zhiwei, gaunt and hollow-eyed, with a restless gaze.
Chen Jiabin, a young delinquent with yellow hair, a tight shirt, and leather pants.
Song Linjia, wearing a floral dress and a whole collection of beaded bracelets on her wrists.
As for why everyone knew Li Ran, it was simple: he'd spent years at the bottom of his grade. How could anyone not know him?
Xiao Yi took a small notebook out of his laptop bag and said, "There were twenty-five of us in total, and I've only managed to find you lot. The others are probably in bad shape. Forget it. I'm done looking."
"After what we went through yesterday, I assume none of you still think the Weird World is a prank."
They all nodded, their expressions grave.
Xiao Yi's gaze swept over them before he continued. "Good. Since you're all prepared, I'll keep this brief. In the Weird World's instances, don't play the lone hero. One person's strength is limited. I'm sure you've all seen that footage."
"Yeah, it was terrifying. After midnight, the whole neighborhood was crawling with monsters," Song Linjia said, still shaken.
Li Ran had slept like a log last night, so he had no idea what was happening outside in the middle of the night.
He'd seen the footage too. Remembering it made his scalp tingle.
The others looked terrified as well. It seemed that everyone except Li Ran had slept poorly last night. Deng Zhiwei in particular must not have slept at all. He looked as if he'd gone through something horrifying, his restless eyes suggesting he was easily startled.
"I'm willing to share the information I've gathered, and I hope you'll share yours too. We can discuss it, work through the challenges together, and get stronger together."
"Agreed."
The others had no objections.
Only with enough information could they complete more quests and earn more rewards, giving them a better chance of surviving to the end.
After a day, everyone had clearly figured out some of the Weird World's rules.
"Then I'll go first."
Xiao Yi adjusted his gleaming glasses and pointed with his pen toward the neighborhood entrance.
"I live in the building by the entrance. When I went downstairs this morning, I passed the Security Room and saw the old man looking for something. He was so worked up that he was throwing things and kicking the door."
"I didn't dare approach him. You all know how it is—one careless move could get you killed. If any of you have a lead or are brave enough, you could give it a try. It might trigger a quest."
Chen Jiabin's eyes lit up. "What was he looking for?"
"If I knew, I'd have done the quest myself."
"Also, there's a Happiness Supermarket by the neighborhood entrance. You can use points to buy all kinds of daily necessities."
Li Ran looked at Xiao Yi's Golden Finger prompt.
(Prompt: Don't believe everything he says.)
Xiao Yi currently had 10 Mysterious Power, 100 points, and two ongoing quests.
"This guy makes it all sound convincing, but his clues are a mix of truth and lies, hard to judge. Without the Golden Finger's warning, I'd probably have believed him too." Li Ran made a mental note to be cautious.
Sharing was voluntary. Some people were willing to share everything, while others held things back. That was their choice, and no one should pressure them.
Of the other four, Deng Zhiwei and Song Linjia had completed their tutorial quests, while Qiu Zhongji and Chen Jiabin hadn't.
After Xiao Yi finished speaking, he turned to Deng Zhiwei.
Deng Zhiwei looked haggard, with deep dark circles under his eyes. As if remembering what had happened last night, his eyes were bloodshot.
Xiao Yi patted Deng Zhiwei on the shoulder and reassured him. "Don't be afraid. We'll all help you."
A little while later, Deng Zhiwei suddenly began to cry. "I... I'm sorry to Zhou Miaomiao. This morning, when that burly man took her away, she called for help, but I didn't... I was scared..."
"A-and also, I... I was an apprentice at the Beauty Salon. Last night, I... I killed someone..."
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