Where's my cheat ability?

With his negotiations with Hajime Kashimo finally over, Lu Yun let out a long breath.

Although it was only a temporary pact, it had bought Lu Yun precious time. His heart, which had been in his throat, could finally settle down for a little rest.

Only then did Lu Yun realize that his back was already soaked in cold sweat. Though he hadn't shown it, the negotiations had put him under considerable pressure.

If I can go back, I'm never trolling again.

Lu Yun silently swore to himself, then began analyzing his current situation.

With Hajime Kashimo's strength backing him up, Lu Yun had at least some confidence in fulfilling the temporary pact.

That's right-Hajime Kashimo hadn't withdrawn his cursed energy. Instead, he had shared it directly with Lu Yun.

Lu Yun could faintly sense that extraordinary power within his body, but rather than feeling happy, he wanted to cry and couldn't.

Because he had discovered that he had absolutely no idea how to control the cursed energy in his body, let alone separate electric charges the way Hajime Kashimo did.

"Come to think of it, how do you control cursed energy? Somebody give me a tutorial!"

Lu Yun roared helplessly, but only the silence of the room answered him.

Grrr~~

The first thing to break the silence was Lu Yun's stomach.

His empty belly left Lu Yun completely unmotivated.

"Well, since it's come to this, food first."

"Seriously, how does a house this big not have anything to eat?"

After searching the house and finding nothing, Lu Yun left the residential building, grumbling and cursing. Standing on the deserted street, even he couldn't help feeling a little lonely.

"It's like I've ended up in the apocalypse."

While Lu Yun stood dumbly in the street, overwhelmed with emotion, a pair of eyes in the shadow of a nearby building behind him had fixed on his back at some point.

"Heh. Idiot."

"Come to think of it, I'm a transmigrator now, aren't I? How come I don't even have a Golden Finger?"

Having finished his musings, Lu Yun suddenly remembered this important matter.

"It's all Hajime Kashimo's fault. He made me forget about it."

Afraid that Hajime Kashimo inside him might hear, Lu Yun instinctively lowered his voice.

Aside from having Hajime Kashimo inside me, nothing else seems to have changed. Do I need to activate the system by voice?

At that thought, Lu Yun immediately put the idea into practice.

"Ahem."

Paying attention to the details, Lu Yun first cleared his throat. Then, like a devout believer, he closed his eyes, lowered his voice, and began to chant:

"O blackness blacker than black, darker than darkness! Uh, I forgot the middle, and I forgot the rest. Anyway, come forth, my system!"

The surrounding temperature abruptly dropped, and a strange gust of wind swept through the quiet street.

"Ooooh!! Is it coming?!"

Sensing the changes around him, Lu Yun excitedly opened his eyes.

An unidentified object appeared out of thin air in front of Lu Yun, accompanied by a mysterious voice.

"Was it you who called me, O player?"

It was then that Lu Yun got a clear look at the unidentified object.

The distinctive skull and white shell, those little wings and that long, slender tail-with his knowledge of the plot, Lu Yun instantly recognized the peculiar creature before him. It was the administrator Kenjaku had created for the Culling Game: the Scarab, also known as Kogane.

Every player participating in the Culling Game had a Kogane like this beside them. It could provide players with information, establish rules, tally points, and more. It was an embodiment of the Culling Game's core system and had no physical form.

Analyzed rationally, it did count as a system in a certain sense. So there was nothing wrong with it appearing in response to Lu Yun's call. It was perfectly reasonable.

As for the strange phenomenon just now, that had merely been Lu Yun's imagination, combined with a sea breeze that happened to blow past.

But Lu Yun was undoubtedly running on emotion at that moment, and he refused to accept that outcome.

"Come on, at least give me a decent system! Does Kogane even count as one?!"

Lu Yun felt as though someone had played him for a fool and waved Kogane away. After carefully confirming that nothing special had appeared on his body, he stubbornly tried again.

"I refuse to believe there's nothing! That was just an accident. I must've been doing it wrong."

This time, Lu Yun didn't close his eyes. Instead, he glanced around, turned in another direction, and stared straight ahead with his eyes wide open.

Seeing Lu Yun suddenly turn toward him, Shinichi Tanaka immediately pulled his peeking head back into the building's shadow.

"That was close. Did that guy spot me? Good thing I reacted fast."

Wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, Shinichi Tanaka panted, still shaken.

Shinichi Tanaka had set his sights on Lu Yun the moment he left the residential building. But Tanaka hadn't attacked immediately. Lu Yun's strange behavior made him uncertain about when to strike.

Shinichi Tanaka wasn't a born sorcerer. He had only awakened after the Culling Game began.

After using his cursed technique to kill the boss who had constantly bullied him, Tanaka had become addicted to the feeling of holding other people's lives in his hands. So he had chosen to join the Culling Game.

Before setting his sights on Lu Yun, he had already killed two innocent ordinary people. Lu Yun was his third target.

To him, Lu Yun was no different from the ordinary people he'd killed before. He couldn't sense the aura of someone like himself. But Lu Yun's behavior was a little odd, which made Tanaka wary enough that he didn't dare act rashly just yet.

"Open the system panel!"

Lu Yun stared at the empty air before him and shouted.

"Player request received. Opening the Culling Game system panel for you now."

Kogane's infuriating voice rang out again, and a panel listing the Culling Game's rules unfolded before Lu Yun's eyes.

"Why is it you again?! Don't come near me! Get lost!"

Lu Yun's face gradually grew hot as he shrieked and slapped both the panel and Kogane away.

Lu Yun took a deep breath, calmed himself down, and muttered:

"I must've been too excited. That's why it didn't work. I need to stay calmer this time."

So, after sitting cross-legged and composing himself for a while, Lu Yun said evenly:

"Come forth, my Golden Finger."

"Cheat?"

Detecting a keyword, Kogane appeared once more.

"Did you call me, player?"

Looking at Kogane hovering right in his face, Lu Yun was so angry that he laughed.

"Come here, Kogane. Come closer. I'll show you something nice."

Lu Yun cupped his hands together, as if there really were something nice in his palms.

"What nice thing?"

Kogane fluttered its wings curiously and drew closer to Lu Yun's hands.

Once it was close enough, Lu Yun's hands shot out, slapping Kogane away yet again.

"Screw you, Kogane! Die!"

Still detecting keywords, the freshly dispersed Kogane reappeared.

"Did you call me, player?"

"Aaaaaaah!!"

Seething with helpless rage, Lu Yun couldn't take it anymore. He chased Kogane around, slapping it over and over. Once he slapped it away, he called it back, then slapped it again, venting all the fury in his chest.

"Fuck you, Kogane! Give me back my Golden Finger!!"