Temple of Talents

Gaoyang knew Qingling wasn't joking. She had never cracked a joke in her life.

The current situation was more or less what he had expected. When Gaoyang decided to save Wang Zikai, it hadn't been purely out of saintly compassion. He had other concerns, too; he just hadn't fully thought them through at the time.

After spending the whole day thinking, he had pretty much sorted them out. Now it was time for his performance. He decided to unleash the ultimate technique of action manga-Talk no jutsu!

"Qingling, I know you've survived this long because you're exceptionally cautious and decisive about killing."

"Flattery won't work," Qingling said coldly.

"Then let me ask you something: what are you staying alive for?"

"Do you need a reason to stay alive? Do you want to die?" Qingling didn't understand.

"Of course I don't want to die, but everyone dies. Even if you live to a hundred, you'll still die." Gaoyang gave a slightly embarrassed smile. "But living can't just be about eating, drinking, and going to the bathroom. Surely there's something you want to do?"

Qingling fell silent.

"Take your time thinking about it. You don't have to answer right away," Gaoyang said. "First, I'll give you a reason not to kill Wang Zikai."

"Go on."

"Although I only awakened a few days ago, I already have a profound understanding of how dangerous it is to be an Awakened. You haven't survived this long just because you're strong and cautious."

"It's also because I have a second personality." Qingling knew that herself.

"Exactly. Once someone becomes an Awakened, they instinctively reject, distance themselves from, and guard against all Beasts. Beasts other than Lost Ones can pick up on that, and over time, the Awakened will slip up. But you're different. You have a second personality. Although she's also aloof and hates men, she can get along with every Beast.

"Other Awakened aren't so lucky. Take me or Pang Jun. No matter how good our acting is, we're always wary of Beasts. Once we discover other Awakened, we instinctively want to band together. That might seem safer, but in fact..."

Qingling stepped out of the shadows. "It's more dangerous."

"Yes. These Beasts aren't stupid. According to Pang Jun's observations, they play human twenty-four hours a day, and they won't proactively test, lure, intimidate, or attack humans who haven't awakened. But that doesn't mean they don't observe us and pay attention when they interact with us.

"Li Weiwei is the best proof. Before this, we'd grown up together and talked about everything. But the moment I awakened, she revealed her true colors and tried to kill me."

Qingling nodded. "If several humans have close ties, they have reason to suspect those humans have awakened. After all, with odds of one in ten thousand, that isn't normal."

Gaoyang sighed. "Exactly. But if we don't band together, we can't get more information, learn more rules, or search for the truth... Even if we each manage to scrape by until we're a hundred, we'll still be-" Gaoyang paused for a second, then quoted Officer Huang with dramatic emphasis: "Orphans abandoned by God."

Qingling's eyes shifted as she sank into thought.

"Back to my earlier question." Gaoyang took a step forward. "Qingling, what are you living for? Don't you want to find out why the world became like this? Don't you want to uncover the truth behind it? Or whether we can escape somewhere truly safe, or even defeat these Beasts? Those are the things we have to do."

Qingling remained silent.

Gaoyang felt he had a chance, and his voice grew more impassioned. "Now here's the problem. We Awakened can only get stronger and achieve our ultimate victory by banding together. But once we do, we increase the risk of exposure. That means we'll be wiped out before we gain enough of an advantage."

"What exactly are you trying to say?" Qingling asked.

"There's a way right in front of us to effectively reduce our risk of exposure."

"A Lost One." Qingling figured it out.

"Right. A Lost One is the perfect smokescreen." Gaoyang offered a reasonable conjecture. "Beasts play human every second of every day. So while a Beast might recognize its own kind, it might not be able to tell what kind of Beast the other is. If we regularly keep Wang Zikai around, we'll actually be less likely to attract suspicion from other Beasts."

"Besides, given my history, Wang Zikai and I are good friends. You only became involved with me because of Li Weiwei's death... It makes perfect sense for the three of us to hang out from now on. On the other hand, if you kill Wang Zikai now, that would be far too suspicious."

Qingling nodded. "Li Weiwei was your childhood friend and my best friend. Wang Zikai is your good friend. If both those Beasts die, and we two humans keep in frequent contact, it'll only raise more suspicion."

Gaoyang smiled. "Maintaining close relationships with Beasts is important. It's a form of cover. That's probably part of why Officer Huang hasn't killed Old Man Liu."

"All right," Qingling said. "You've convinced me."

Gaoyang breathed a sigh of relief. Phew. Finally talked my way out of that.

That evening, Gaoyang returned home. Everything was normal. His parents nagged him again for staying out all night, but they hadn't noticed anything else.

Gaoyang dealt with them, returned to his bedroom, locked the door, lay down on his bed, and closed his eyes.

[Beep-]

[Entering system]

[You have gained 71 Fortune points]

-Wait, isn't it one Fortune point per hour?

-It's been fifty hours at most since my last login, right?

[Your Fortune talent has reached level 2]

[From now on, the danger level of your survival time will affect your Fortune point gains]

[You previously experienced 20 minutes of extremely perilous survival time. Fortune point rewards during that period received a 60× multiplier]

-You mean when "Aunt He" attacked me? Fortune really does favor the bold!

-Put them all into luck.

[Once allocated, Fortune points cannot be reassigned. Confirm?]

-Yes! Hurry up!

[Congratulations! Luck has exceeded 100 points. Stats have received random permanent increases: vitality +9, endurance +10, agility +10, spirit +20, charisma +3]

[Vitality: 27　Endurance: 28]

[Strength: 17　Agility: 27]

[Spirit: 37　Charisma: 19]

[Luck: 101]

-Huh, that doesn't feel like much of a gain this time. Feels like I even lost out a little.

-What does spirit do?

[Spirit increases the output and defense of mental talents. It also enhances perception, making danger and hostility easier to detect]

-Got it.

-Oh, can I unlock the hidden panel?

[Sorry, insufficient luck]

-How much do I need?

[You do not currently have clearance to know]

-Fine. I'll keep saving up.

[Additional notice: level 2 Fortune has unlocked the Temple of Talents. You now have one free comprehension attempt. Use it?]

-Wow! Nice. Looks like I can have multiple talents, too.

-Tell me, which matters more: talents or stats?

[Talents take priority in the early stages. Stats require quantitative accumulation to produce qualitative changes, and must be paired with talents for optimal results]

-All right, I'll take your advice. Use the comprehension attempt.

[Comprehension in progress...]

[Comprehension failed]

-Heh. Just as expected.

[Another comprehension attempt requires 30 Fortune points]

-Why didn't you say so earlier? I already spent them all on stats! Whatever, I'll try again tomorrow.

[Session ended. System hidden]

[Beep-]

Early the next morning, a light rain fell.

Umbrella in hand, Gaoyang walked along the wet, congested streets. Watching office workers listlessly waiting at traffic lights and cramming into buses and subway stations, he couldn't help reflecting on it. These Beasts really are dedicated. We used to call people corporate livestock all the time. Turns out it was literal.

Gaoyang went to school. During morning self-study, the homeroom teacher came in. "Gaoyang, Qingling, the police are here. It's about Li Weiwei. They want you in the office."

Only a few days had passed since Li Weiwei's death, yet the homeroom teacher's face no longer showed grief or regret when mentioning her. Instead, it was utterly indifferent, even a little impatient.

Gaoyang and Qingling stood, left the classroom, and went to the office.

Officer Huang sat smoking in the office. None of the other teachers were there.

"Did you clean up what happened last time?" Qingling asked.

"Don't worry. No traces left." Officer Huang flicked the ash off his cigarette. "Pang Jun told me why you failed."

"We can try again," Qingling said. "We'll definitely succeed this time."

Officer Huang gave no answer. He placed his cigarette butt in the ashtray and slowly stubbed it out. "My wife and I met in high school. She was my first love, and we've been together for years. I thought I knew her well enough. I mean... I know her very well in her 'human identity.'"

Officer Huang stood and looked around. Only after confirming once again that the office was completely safe did he lower his voice and continue. "But a while ago, my wife started acting strange. I thought she might have discovered something and begun to suspect me. Although I'd never tested her, I'd always thought she was a Lost One. But if she was starting to suspect me, there was no way she could be a Lost One.

"I've been struggling in fear and anxiety all this time, and eventually I decided to kill her. Then I happened to meet you, and that led to this operation."

Officer Huang raised both hands and rubbed his face hard, then let out a long breath. "Thank goodness it failed. Otherwise, the rest of my life would have been worse than death."

"Has the plan changed?" Gaoyang asked.

"Yes, the plan has changed." Officer Huang stood up. "I only found out last night that I'd misunderstood my wife. She'd been acting strange because she was hiding something from me. She came clean last night. Honestly, when I found out, I was stunned."

"What was it?"

"My wife," Officer Huang said, his gaze lingering on Gaoyang and Qingling, "is pregnant."