Thirty-One Draws!

"Forty Fate Points per draw. Let's start with a ten-pull to test the waters."

Xiao Miao currently had a large reserve of Fate Points. He planned to draw more from Brian, hoping to figure out the general rules of Fate Draws and make it easier to plan future draws.

Having made up his mind, Xiao Miao poured Fate Points into the Fate Dice. The dice spun at high speed as lights of various colors flashed by.

[Item Card: Band-Aid (emergency item; can be used as a swimsuit if necessary)]

[Item Card: Wolf Fang Pendant (a memento from surviving an extreme situation)]

[Skill Card: American Cooking (an essential skill for househusbands; especially skilled at roasting turkey and making pizza)]

[Item Card: Schindler's List (the brilliance of humanity shines)]

[Skill: Boundary-Crossing Aesthetic (you have eyes that are good at discovering beauty, regardless of race!)]

[Item Card: Communication Watch (an agent's item from many years ago; its functions rival those of a kids' smartwatch)]

[Item Card: Repair Wrench (a wrench on the verge of being scrapped)]

[Skill: Eloquence (excellent oral skills!)]

[Item Card: Sexology Notebook (a master-level work)]

[Character Card: Brian Mills (retired CIA agent, proficient in infiltration, interrogation, demolition, and disguise)]

Xiao Miao: "..."

Ten draws, eight pieces of trash. He felt that all the luck he'd had during his first world traversal had completely vanished.

That was normal enough. Luck was an intangible thing, and the panel wouldn't display it as a straightforward stat, but it definitely existed.

After joining the Jade River Society, Xiao Miao had made some friends during training. According to them, a first traversal mission apparently did come with a luck bonus.

Of course, some people scoffed at that claim. Their luck during their first traversal missions had been terrible. If there really was a luck bonus, there was no reason it would just skip them. Besides, neither the officials nor the big shots had ever confirmed it.

"What's wrong? You don't look so good," Brian asked.

"It's nothing. I just remembered something sad." Xiao Miao got up, went to the restroom to splash water on his face, then returned to his seat, took a deep breath, and started drawing again.

Another 400 Fate Points went in. The Fate Dice spun continuously, tossing Xiao Miao eight pieces of trash and two special things.

[Your body has received fate's tempering. Physical Strength +1]

[Your soul has received fate's tempering. Soul Strength +1]

"It can actually draw attribute points too?!"

His body and soul strengthened at the same time. A warm current that had appeared from nowhere circulated through him once, instantly restoring all the stamina he had expended and even clearing his mind considerably.

He hadn't drawn anything good, but two attribute points were still decent. After hesitating for a moment, Xiao Miao invested another 200 Fate Points for five more draws. The Fate Dice spun, and a streak of golden light appeared!

[Character Card: Qui-Gon Jinn (an unconventional Jedi Master, proficient in the Living Force and lightsaber combat; his true cause of death may have been cremation)]

"Gold!"

Five draws, four pieces of trash, but the Character Card of Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn was enough to make up for every bit of the cost.

The Character Card had appeared on the third draw of this round. In other words, he had drawn Brian's original Character Card on the ninth draw, a Character Card from another fate trajectory on the twenty-third draw, and now he had 2,325 Fate Points left in reserve.

That was still fairly plentiful. He could draw a few more times!

After five more draws, his card inventory had gained another five pieces of trash. When the Fate Points from the sixth draw went into the Fate Dice, golden light appeared again.

[Character Card: Ra's al Ghul (leader of the League of Assassins, Batman's mentor!)]

Gold again!

Drawing cards really was addictive. Xiao Miao forcibly suppressed the urge to keep drawing, intending to save his remaining Fate Points for other people.

He had drawn thirty-one times in total this round and gotten three Character Cards. That meant that with Affinity at Level 4, he averaged one Character Card every ten draws.

His luck really was worse than during his first traversal mission.

There were still too few draw samples. He needed to find other plot characters to verify the probabilities, such as John, the protagonist of John Wick, or Professor X, the protagonist of Wanted, and the villain Morgan—no, Wesley and Sloan.

If he drew God's Character Card from Sloan, he would be set for life!

Taking a deep breath, Xiao Miao opened the panel and organized his card inventory, feeling more secure than ever before.

If he remembered correctly, Ra's al Ghul possessed physical abilities at the peak of humanity, perhaps even beyond human limits. He was also a master of combat who had mastered countless fighting techniques, an unquestionable killing machine.

As for Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn, that went without saying. Xiao Miao remembered that he had once used the Force to hold up a half-wrecked spaceship. His combat power was self-evident.

What a pity he hadn't drawn a lightsaber.

It wasn't that Xiao Miao coveted a lightsaber's power. Honestly, he thought guns were more convenient for killing people, but lightsabers were cool!

Stats were temporary. Being cool was forever!

Ever since watching movies as a child, Xiao Miao had wanted a lightsaber. Sadly, his dream hadn't come true today.

The flight back to New York would also take seven hours. Xiao Miao's body and soul had just been strengthened, so he didn't feel sleepy in the slightest.

Brian had already fallen into a deep sleep. His energy had never been comparable to Xiao Miao's, and the repeated ordeal had long since drained him dry. He had slept like a log while Xiao Miao was drawing cards.

Since he had nothing better to do, Xiao Miao looked around, used the Sexology Notebook Item Card, and began studying it critically.

The next morning, the plane landed in New York. Xiao Miao and Brian took a car back to the Continental Hotel.

The moment he entered, Xiao Miao immediately sensed that something was off. The hotel lobby looked the same as ever, but every assassin who passed by would sneak a glance at him before quickly looking away.

Xiao Miao guessed the reason and didn't care. He walked to the front desk with Brian.

After a simple handover, the commission was officially completed, and the system notification sounded in Xiao Miao's ears at the same time.

[Commission completed. Total count: 1/5]

[Current title: Rising to Fame]

[Current accumulated Fate Points: 747]

Brian planned to go home first. After his daughter's kidnapping, he had realized the importance of companionship and was willing to spend more time with his family. If not for the fact that her stepfather was still around, he might have even asked his ex-wife to remarry him.

Of course, he hadn't forgotten his promise to Xiao Miao. He agreed to train Xiao Miao after spending time with his daughter, but before that, he needed to properly sort through the abilities he possessed.

After all, he had been retired for many years, and many of his skills had begun to rust. He didn't want to half-ass things with Xiao Miao.

After the handover was complete, an extra hundred thousand dollars appeared in Xiao Miao's account. He had gotten far more than that from Wego, so he didn't care much.

Xiao Miao began looking for a second commission. His authority had been raised, allowing him to browse more menus. He could log into the dark web directly with his phone to view bounty and commission lists.

But Xiao Miao still found a seat in the lobby, asked for a physical menu, and flipped through it casually. It wasn't to show off. It just felt more satisfying this way.

Fine, he was showing off.

Half an hour later, Xiao Miao hadn't found a commission he liked, but he did run into a young fan who came over to ask for an autograph.

With the Continental Hotel around, registered assassins were among the best-informed people in the underworld. What Xiao Miao had done had already spread through major hotels around the world and become known to countless people.

Pure violence was the most shocking thing of all. Many rookie assassins who heard of Xiao Miao's exploits had become his male and female fans, treating him as an idol.

This young fan was one of them. Upon seeing Xiao Miao, he became so excited that he tremblingly handed over a Desert Eagle and a marker, hoping Xiao Miao would sign the gun.

"I want to be like you someday and kill over a hundred people in one go!" the young fan declared his ambition.

"What a twisted set of values... What should I sign?"

"Could you sign Smith?"

"Sure." Xiao Miao nodded and wrote the three characters "Shi Mi Si" on the gun.

It was his first time signing something for someone. Thinking about it made him a little excited.

Xiao Miao's good mood didn't last long. He had still underestimated how much shock everyone had felt when they saw him sprinting around while firing dual machine guns.

People kept approaching him to chat, just to become familiar with him. Even the manager of the New York Continental Hotel was no exception, holding a wineglass as he invited Xiao Miao inside for a private discussion.

The New York Continental Hotel's manager was named Winston, not the gorilla from Overwatch. Xiao Miao had seen him on his first day in this world.

This guy had played the old god Odin in the TV series American Gods!