Guangming City, with the blazing sun hanging high overhead!
Ye Li stood among a group of teenagers on an open stretch of ground in South City.
He was thin, dressed in coarse hemp clothes and cloth shoes. His handsome brows were furrowed, as if he were enduring tremendous pain!
A cool breeze brushed his face, bringing a hint of relief from the waves of stabbing pain that kept pulsing through his brain beneath the scorching sun!
At that moment, memories from his previous life churned through his mind, and one baffling question after another pieced themselves together in his head.
Had Kobe really crashed?
Who was the bigger cuck, the Dragon Clan or Rent-a-Girlfriend's protagonist?
Who was stronger, the Heavenly Emperor Ye or the Desolate Heavenly Emperor?
Which was the fifth great novel: Snow and Sword or Gu Zhenren?
Why were Wuthering Waves and Minecraft not as good as MiHoYo games and Mini World?
Was the Heavenly Obstacle Star in Naruto plagiarized from Heavenly Motion, Myriad Phenomena?
Questions straight out of Approaching Science bubbled up endlessly in Ye Li's mind.
After a long while, he finally exhaled a breath of foul air, and his eyes cleared completely!
Ye Li had been an internet streamer in the twenty-first century, drawing traffic by casually dropping memes and outrageous takes.
With his constant contrarian act, his livestream room had long attracted countless troublemakers. They took the hot takes he kept spouting and posted them on one major online platform after another—Tieba, Douyin, Bilibili, Zhihu, Xiaohongshu, Weibo...—where people took turns tearing them apart.
He'd gone into debate circles to argue that funny characters were invincible, claimed on Bilibili that Evangelion was the most overrated, called streamers internet beggars on a certain short-video app, and trolled the Rice Guards in the anti-MiHoYo forum...
His past misdeeds had been truly heinous.
Over the years, he'd said at least eighty, if not a hundred, lines worthy of becoming scripture. His guiding principle had always been to say whatever would bring in the most traffic.
As it turned out, while contrarian trolling was shameless, it really could rake in cash.
By repeatedly stoking conflict, he'd actually managed to make money online.
As for why he'd transmigrated...
Of course it was because he'd run out of content. At his viewers' urging, he'd bitten down on a lighter.
Then, while his viewers watched in a cold sweat and cried, "Ye Li really died," he'd successfully killed himself.
What happened next went incredibly smoothly.
After the incidents of "Ye Li's fake death" and "born of his mother," he'd successfully reincarnated in this world.
But it seemed his memories had gotten caught in a traffic jam. They hadn't returned until he turned eighteen and came of age.
Only then did he understand the awkward predicament he faced in this life.
In the world he lived in, everyone awakened a trait on the day they turned eighteen.
The traits they awakened depended on the experiences they'd had before turning eighteen.
A farmer might awaken the [Hardworking] trait, increasing his tolerance for hardship.
A rich person might awaken the [Slave Owner] trait, which increased its influence by 50% over anyone with less wealth.
Some people were born with incredible kidney strength and gained the [King of the Skies] trait, which boosted stamina by 100%!
And Ye Li... had no trait!
Just like those adults who never grew a camera on their faces, he'd come of age without a single trait.
It was an extraordinarily rare exception, comparable to impotence. It was even rarer than a Blue Trait, and meant he could be declared a complete good-for-nothing.
At the thought of his awkward situation, a trace of worry crept across his brow.
As a certain Blue Silver King had said: "There are no useless traits in this world, only useless people!"
But he didn't even have a trait. He couldn't even find a way to get started.
Looking around, Ye Li felt like a husky lost in a crowd.
Unlike the people around him, before his memories returned, he hadn't let on that he had no trait. Instead, he'd disguised himself as someone with the Green Trait [Exceptional Agility]!
This trait increased comprehension by 30%, giving a substantial boost to one's ability to learn.
He'd pretended because traits that could detect other people's traits were one in ten thousand. Most people had to verify the truth by observing someone's performance.
Comprehension was such a vague thing that as long as he stuck to his story, no one could prove otherwise.
How did I dare? I pretended to have a trait and sneaked into the Azure Dragon Gang's recruitment. If they found out, they'd cut my tendons and hamstrings.
Ye Li cursed his amnesiac self for being so reckless. Being a good-for-nothing was still better than being crippled.
At that moment, he was mixed in with a group of teenagers, all staring at a burly man in front of them who stood eight feet tall.
Two blazing suns hung overhead, scorching all living things beneath the heavens and turning the ground underfoot red-hot!
The burly man surveyed the teenagers before him, his voice cold and hard. "The Azure Dragon Gang is a major gang in Guangming City. Joining us won't be easy. Talent is the most basic requirement."
"I'm responsible for assessing you on behalf of the gang. My name is Feng Yue. You can call me Instructor Feng!"
"You newcomers were selected because you have traits that are beneficial to martial cultivation. Even the lowest-grade, ordinary White Traits can help you improve your martial training."
"Now, when I call your name, come up and collect the matching fist technique or sword manual. Once you've all received your external techniques, I'll teach you our gang's Body Tempering method, the Azure Dragon Force!"
With that, Feng Yue called out, "Lu Xiuyuan!"
At the call of his name, a teenager wearing a proud expression strode forward.
At the same time, the teenagers below inevitably started whispering among themselves:
"That's the genius who awakened a Blue Trait!"
"That's right. I heard he awakened the rare Blue Trait [Master of Ninjutsu]. He was born suited to hard-body training!"
"So lucky! The odds of awakening a Blue Trait are one in ten thousand. When will I get one?"
Listening to the classic whispers of all-knowing bystanders around him, Ye Li recalled the trait's specific effect, which he'd learned about earlier.
[Master of Ninjutsu · Blue]: Can block physical and mental pain. Even being cut to pieces feels like nothing!
"So it's a cuck trait..." Ye Li thought.
That was because the prerequisite for awakening this trait was to have spent three years in a one-sided relationship, pouring out your feelings without ever feeling sad!
Simply put, you had to spend three years as a dogged, persistent simp to awaken it!
After all, every living thing felt pain and fear when it was injured!
But cucks didn't feel that way!
This had even been recorded in Rent-a-Girlfriend!
It made perfect sense!
As Lu Xiuyuan's name rang out, a proud-looking teenager stepped out of the crowd and walked up to the burly man amid envious glances.
Gazing at Lu Xiuyuan, Feng Yue smiled faintly.
"Your trait is suited to hard-body training. This Turtle-Cracking Hard Armor is the best match for you!"
Lu Xiuyuan eagerly accepted the green-bound book from Feng Yue's hand, then hurried off to the side to study it.
"Next, Wei Li!"
At the call, another teenager with the [Fleet Foot] trait stepped forward!
[Fleet Foot · Green]: Base walking/running speed +30%, with slightly reduced stamina consumption!
As Ye Li watched, the boy named Wei Li received a leg technique called Formless Movement Technique.
These manuals weren't expensive. An ordinary family of three could afford one with a year's savings.
But only forces like these could provide such a wide selection of techniques tailored to each person's trait.
"Next, Ye Li!"