Second Traversal!

The woman's eyes were as gentle as water as she extended her hand toward Xiao Miao. "You've been accepted. Welcome to the Jade River Society."

Their gazes met. Xiao Miao sensed no hostility, so he raised his hand and shook hers. "Thanks for taking me in, boss."

Their hands parted at once.

The woman smiled. "There's no such thing as taking anyone in. We're just huddling together for warmth."

She did not linger. After exchanging a few simple words with Xiao Miao, she turned and left. Xiao Miao followed a staff member into the office to learn about the joining procedures and related benefits.

The society offered rental housing, and Shanghai City currency could actually be used to pay for it. Xiao Miao found that utterly unbelievable.

Fate Points were the hard currency widely recognized by the public. As for Shanghai City currency, it was merely a general equivalent issued by Shanghai City itself. It could inflate whenever they wanted, and there was no telling whether other cities even accepted it.

Xiao Miao decisively rented a studio apartment in the members' residential district of the Thirteenth Ring. Then, taking advantage of the society's welfare policy, he spent 1,150 Fate Points to pay off his government debt before hurrying to the society's intelligence archive.

Selling intelligence was a major source of income for Travelers of All Heavens, even the primary source of income for many.

He had returned rather late, so perhaps some of the intelligence had already been sold by other Travelers of All Heavens who had returned before him.

Just as Xiao Miao expected, the Jade River Society's intelligence archive already contained information on the Resident Evil world, though it was incomplete.

The intelligence Xiao Miao provided was far more detailed, including the nuclear explosion in Raccoon City, Umbrella Corporation's subsequent plans, the reactions of nations around the world, the outbreak of the undead, and more.

In the end, the archive valued Xiao Miao's information at 1,500 Fate Points. Had there been any local supernatural powers involved, the valuation could have been even higher.

Xiao Miao was quite satisfied. He happily accepted the Fate Points, and the fullness of his pockets gave him a strong sense of security.

The Jade River Society was a colossal force entrenched across the Eleventh through Fifteenth Rings, with countless members. It was said that core members could live with the president in the villa district of the Eleventh Ring.

Xiao Miao had no desire to live in a villa for now. Improving his quality of life was not urgent at this stage; becoming stronger as quickly as possible was what mattered most.

How should he spend the fifteen-day gap between traversals?

Travelers of All Heavens without dreams would choose to indulge themselves, embrace their desires, gather with like-minded people for massive orgies, drink wildly, celebrate, and make connections without restraint.

There was no need to worry about AIDS, warts, or syphilis. Travelers of All Heavens with healing talents could cure them, leaving no concerns when making connections.

Travelers of All Heavens with dreams, like Xiao Miao, chose to improve their practical combat abilities in the gyms, sparring zones, and shooting ranges contracted by their societies.

With his current physical condition, ordinary training produced very little improvement. Still, it helped him master his body and bring out as much of his strength as possible.

Of course, nothing was absolute. Any skill mastered by a Traveler of All Heavens could be leveled up through training, provided Fate Points were spent to accelerate cultivation.

It was a true bottomless pit. Xiao Miao was not that extravagant; he needed to save his Fate Points for drawing cards. That was his true core.

Fifteen days later.

Xiao Miao left the shooting range carrying the smell of gunpowder. His skill levels had not risen, but he had thoroughly turned the abilities he had suddenly acquired into his own.

Even if the panel suddenly vanished one day in the future, those abilities would remain Xiao Miao's precious assets.

Today was the day of his second journey through the heavens. Xiao Miao did not train at high intensity. After a simple warm-up to get his feel back, he left the shooting range and went to the cafeteria.

Halfway through his meal, he once again felt someone watching him. He skillfully turned his head and met the gaze of the mysterious woman in the trench coat.

They nodded to each other at the same time. Xiao Miao calmly continued eating as though nothing had happened.

Over the past fifteen days, he had grown accustomed to that gaze. His emotions had fluctuated several times at first, but now his heart was as still as an ancient well.

After eating, Xiao Miao took a car back to his studio apartment, changed into a black leather jacket, slung on his backpack, and quietly waited for noon.

[Travelers of All Heavens, please note: dimensional traversal is about to begin.]

[Countdown: 10, 9, 8... 3, 2, 1!]

[Traversal begins!]

When the countdown ended, white light instantly filled his entire vision. When he came back to his senses, everything before him had changed beyond recognition.

Traffic streamed through the streets. Skyscrapers blocked out the sky, roads stretched from beneath his feet into the distance as far as the eye could see, the shops on both sides all bore English signs, and crowds passed by as a flood of noise rushed into his mind.

A bustling, prosperous city street!

Xiao Miao stepped to the roadside, smoothly tucked his pistol back into his waistband, and opened the system panel to inspect his mission.

[Traversal mission triggered: Integrate into the world!]

[Complete the mission to receive 200 Fate Points. If the mission fails, your connection will be permanently severed!]

[Optional cover identities: Homeless man (20 Fate Points), high school student (50 Fate Points), reporter (70 Fate Points)]

The mission information was extremely brief. Xiao Miao scrolled up and down repeatedly but found nothing else.

Integrate into the world?

What did he have to do for that to count? Find a woman, get married, and have children?

No wonder everyone said the missions for one's first journey through the heavens were easy. Now that he saw it, the rumors were indeed true. Setting aside the mission's difficulty, the most annoying part was its vague and incomplete requirements.

He would have to solve a riddle before even completing the mission.

After thinking it over, Xiao Miao chose the reporter identity again. Seventy Fate Points vanished, and identification documents appeared out of thin air in his pocket.

It was still the perfunctory name Xiao Miao Smith, affiliated with an obscure little newspaper, with no other information whatsoever.

Xiao Miao waited for a while, but no kind colleague called him, and the mission panel showed no changes either.

After a moment's thought, Xiao Miao walked to a newsstand on the corner to check the papers and bought a copy of the New York Daily.

The front-page headline was an explosive piece of news.

A Russian Orthodox church had been attacked. Terrorists had murdered and set fires, not only burning down the church but brazenly shooting the bishop dead at its entrance.

The New York police displayed unprecedented efficiency, catching the true culprit in only half a day. According to informed sources, the criminal would face as many as two hundred years in prison.

Xiao Miao folded the newspaper shut, utterly dismissive of its claims.

Definitely a journalism major.

Solving the case in half a day and successfully bringing the criminal to justice? Not even novels dared write something so absurd. The poor "true culprit" was clearly just a scapegoat, used to calm the public's anger.

An invisible hand had made its move!

There was no need to read the rest of the news, because Xiao Miao saw a Fate Dice drift past him.

The dice's owner sat inside a luxurious business van. Under Xiao Miao's gaze, it slowly stopped at the entrance of a hotel on the corner. A bellhop stepped forward to open the door, and a man who looked like the ancient god Odin slowly got out.

His gaze rose to the hotel's name:

Continental Hotel!

"It's actually the John Wick world! This world is right in my comfort zone!"

Xiao Miao immediately understood, and his thoughts began to branch out.

Judging by the nature of the previous world, this one might also be a crossover world. He might even encounter other plotlines.

With that thought, Xiao Miao turned his attention back to the newspaper. The church in the cover photo looked more and more familiar, and scenes from films he had watched in his previous life surfaced one after another.

The "true culprit" caught by the police was indeed a fall guy. The real perpetrator behind the church massacre was the protagonist, John Wick. The plot had already begun.

Xiao Miao did not rush to find the protagonist. His top priority was completing the first stage of the mission.

The John Wick films had built a complete and vast underground assassin world. Integrating into the world did not mean marrying, having children, and becoming a good citizen—it meant integrating into the world's dark side!

He would start by registering as an assassin!