Art of Speaking

Su Wu noticed that the simulator's official name for the Lantern Fiend was "Eye Fiend."

At first glance, the name did not seem fitting.

Why did the simulator call those red lanterns filling the sky the "Eye Fiend"?

Could each of those red lanterns be an eye belonging to the fiend?

If the red lanterns blanketing most, or even all, of Mingzhou were each one of its eyes, how enormous must its true body be?

Or was the fiend itself made up of countless lanterns?

An indescribable shadow loomed in Su Wu's heart. He shuddered, banished those speculations from his mind, and stopped himself from dwelling on them.

He looked at the dial again.

This time, the rooster Su Wu had already caught was not among the items he could bring out of the simulated future.

He did not know whether that was because the rooster was a living creature, or because the simulator still did not consider it his property despite his having caught it.

The items available to bring out this time were all things Su Wu had previously carried with him.

His wallet, phone, gold, and so on.

The simulator's exchange rates for gold, silver, money, and other things that could circulate as currency were extremely steep.

Bringing out one gram of gold, for example, required three hundred simulation coins.

Bringing out three hundred-yuan notes also required three hundred simulation coins.

At this stage, three hundred simulation coins were worth far more than three hundred yuan. Su Wu would not trade them even for thirty thousand.

Apart from those forms of currency, the simulator's exchange rates for other items were relatively reasonable.

But Su Wu had no use for those things right now either, so he skipped this option.

Su Wu had used up the batch of candles he had bought outside. On his last attempt, he had charged straight up to the girl and snatched away her pet.

He could not be so reckless next time. At the very least, he had to keep the girl alive.

-If she died, the rooster would most likely die soon afterward as well.

So Su Wu decided to rest for the night and resume the simulations tomorrow, after buying more candles.

So many consecutive simulations had put him under considerable mental strain. He needed rest to ease it.

The 14th. Clear skies.

The yellow water stains on the walls continued to darken, and the patches of mold grew thicker, beginning to spread throughout the room.

Su Wu's room was filled with boxes of candles.

The candles in each box were forty centimeters long and almost as thick as a drinking glass.

He sat at his now thoroughly cluttered desk, carefully studying a map of Mingzhou and occasionally picking up a pen to mark out routes.

After a long while, Su Wu put the map into his backpack and willed, Begin simulation!

Welcome to the Perfect Life Simulator!

Your wallet balance is 816 Origin Jade. A personal life simulation costs 1 Origin Jade.

Would you like to spend Origin Jade to bring real-world items into the simulation?

"Yes." Su Wu chose to bring the Imperial Bell and a box of candles into the simulation.

Bringing in one candle cost one Origin Jade.

Bringing in a whole box cost five Origin Jade-a box contained twenty candles.

His preparations were complete.

Darkness engulfed him in an instant.

When Su Wu came to his senses, he was already inside the Little Temple.

The flame on the lamp stand burned silently. It seemed able to keep shining without any fuel.

Or perhaps its fuel was something Su Wu could not see.

A sense of safety welled up within Su Wu inside the temple, but he had no time to savor that peace. First, he lifted the candles he had deliberately bundled together with tape out of the box, then picked up the phone from the floor and checked the time.

It was now 10:43 p.m.

There were twelve minutes left until the critical moment at 10:55.

Below the time displayed on the screen, invitations to join the Work Group kept popping up.

Su Wu ignored those eerie invitations and slipped the phone into his pocket.

Then he lit a candle and held it in his hand, slung the bundle of nineteen spare candles onto his back, and hung the Imperial Bell around his neck. While the neon lights were still shining, he dashed out of the Little Temple.

The Imperial Bell had no effect on the Eye Fiend.

Since he had started the simulation from the Little Temple save point, the Shadow Fiend was cut off from the Eye Fiend's sphere of influence and could not appear here.

But Su Wu had insisted on spending one Origin Jade to bring the Imperial Bell into the game. It was not just the Shadow Fiend he wanted to guard against, but other fiends that might be roaming Mingzhou as well.

For instance, the Work Group fiend, which could appear at any moment.

Moving as fast as he could without letting the candle blow out, Su Wu reached the car, opened the door, dragged out the headless corpse, set down the candle, turned the key, and started the engine in one fluid sequence.

The car pulled away smoothly and gradually picked up speed.

The engine roared, and the scenery on either side blurred into bands of color.

Veteran Driver (green): You are proficient with all ground transportation capable of steering. You can navigate all kinds of hazardous road conditions with ease and bring out a vehicle's full performance.

Su Wu had used his last green Talent Upgrade Talisman on the Veteran Driver talent.

The difference between a white talent and a green one was plainly visible.

Now, whether it was a car, an armored vehicle, a bicycle, an electric bike, or even livestock such as cattle and horses, Su Wu could handle it perfectly as long as it could steer and served as ground transportation!

The car tore down the road.

At 10:40, Su Wu had already driven around the intersection where RT-Mart stood.

The neon lights were still shining, and the signs heralding the Eye Fiend's emergence had yet to appear.

Su Wu spotted a figure walking along one side of the street with her head lowered, holding a rooster. He turned the steering wheel slightly and stopped the car directly in front of the girl.

He pushed open the car door, held up the red candle with its flickering flame, and shouted to the girl, "It's dangerous here! Why are you wandering the streets alone?

Aren't you afraid those lanterns in the sky will take your head off?!"

As Su Wu spoke, the neon signs and lights along the street abruptly went out. In the darkness, only the straight beams of the car's headlights and the candle flame in his hand offered any sense of safety.

The girl was startled by the car that had suddenly darted out and blocked her path.

In the glare of the headlights, she could not make out Su Wu sitting in the car, but she could hear the concern in his voice. Her eyes reddened, and she was about to speak.

Su Wu spoke again. "Get in the car, quick! Once the lanterns rise, it'll be too late!"

His words contained crucial information and planted a powerful suggestion in the girl's mind.

They made her believe that the red lanterns rising into the sky were something terrifying, and that those rising lanterns were precisely why Mingzhou had become like this!

That was the truth, after all.

But Su Wu had no time to explain things to the girl right now. His words were forceful commands, and that tone would make someone utterly at a loss instinctively choose to rely on him.

An electronic voice faintly sounded at that moment: "You have acquired a temporary talent: Art of Speaking (white)."

Art of Speaking (white): Your words are relatively easy for others to believe.

If the person you are speaking to is your enemy, your words will be more likely to anger them, and sustained verbal provocation may even cause them to lose their reason.