Draw a Talent

Butcher Ling's surname was Ling. It was said that he had fled from another village to Ancient Pool Village more than a decade ago. He had an imposing build, a face full of whiskers, and a deep, powerful voice.

After hearing Lin Yi's purpose, Butcher Ling directly shook his head. "You're scrawny. Anyone can see you don't have much strength. Even if Elder Gu He recommended you, I don't want you."

Lin Yi's heart sank. Still unwilling to give up, he wanted to try persuading him some more.

Butcher Ling directly tossed the black iron butcher's knife in his hand onto the chopping block covered in scraps of meat. "Try it. If you can lift it, I'll take you in."

Lin Yi stepped forward, gripped the handle, and used all his strength to lift it. Veins bulged across his body, but the butcher's knife did not budge.

This completely crushed Lin Yi's hopes.

The butcher's knife weighed at least eighty or ninety pounds, and it was wedged into the chopping block, making it difficult to lift.

It seemed his Strength was insufficient. He wondered how many points of Strength it would take to lift this butcher's knife.

"Thank you, Butcher Ling. I was being presumptuous."

Lin Yi cupped his fists and prepared to leave, but Butcher Ling stopped him.

"Wait. Since Elder Gu He recommended you, take this piece of Wild Boar meat. Consider it a token of my regard."

Butcher Ling handed him a piece of pork with bristles still on it.

"Thank you."

Lin Yi currently had nothing on him except a set of coarse linen clothes gifted by the system. Even if this pork could not be exchanged for much money, it could at least fill his stomach a little.

It was not a total loss.

Next, Lin Yi took the pork to a haystack not far from Ancient Pool Village. He gathered dry branches and grass, then spent more than ten minutes roasting the pork.

However, without Salt or any other seasoning, the roasted Wild Boar meat still carried a strong gamey stench.

But he had no choice. If he did not eat, he would go hungry.

He had to admit that his senses in this Apocalypse World were exactly the same as in reality. The feeling of hunger was quite unpleasant.

"Ding! You have eaten a small piece of roasted Wild Boar meat. Satiety +5..."

After raising his Satiety above 90, Lin Yi stopped eating. Looking at the remaining half-piece of pork, he placed it into the Spatial Backpack that came with his character.

The Spatial Backpack had ten slots, more than enough for half a piece of pork.

Afterward, Lin Yi touched the golden symbol on his wrist. His figure flickered and vanished from the spot.

Inside the vast Workshop, Lin Yi suddenly appeared where he had disappeared earlier.

The hot water he had poured for himself before had long since gone cold.

Lin Yi glanced around. No one had noticed him.

The few members who had come in to work overtime that morning were all focused on their computers. They were buried in their work, completely unaware that another person had appeared in the room.

Lin Yi took a deep breath and suppressed the complicated emotions from earlier.

He had actually returned?

That Apocalypse Game really was a new world!

Whose handiwork was this?

A god? Or aliens?

Opening his drawer, Lin Yi discovered that the Golden Envelope inside was gone.

Had those guys come over and taken it?

No. They would not touch his things.

Lin Yi frowned in thought. He guessed that both the Police who had interrogated him last night and the Police who had come to collect Liu Hong's belongings that morning had been after the Golden Envelope—the Apocalypse Game Activation Code.

But how had the game Activation Code ended up in his desk drawer?

Had Old Liu left it for him?

Lin Yi shook his head. Although he and Liu Hong had been on good terms, Liu Hong definitely would not have told him about a supernatural game that could take someone into another world.

Besides, before leaving work yesterday, he had been certain there was nothing in this drawer.

And when Liu Hong had invited them out for dinner, Lin Yi had stayed with him the entire time. Liu Hong clearly had no opportunity to slip anything into his drawer.

At that moment, Lin Yi suddenly remembered that this spot had once seemed to be Liu Hong's seat.

It was just that Liu Hong had rarely come to the Workshop afterward, while Lin Yi liked this spot, so he had moved here.

Perhaps Liu Hong had once kept the Golden Envelope here.

If a game character's death caused the Activation Code to reappear, then that would explain why the Golden Envelope had shown up in this drawer.

So that was it...

Just as Lin Yi was thinking, the employee sitting across from him, Wang Mao, groggily raised his head and suddenly noticed Lin Yi.

"Huh? Brother Yi, when did you come back?"

"Brother Yi is back? How did I not notice..."

Looking at everyone in the Workshop, Lin Yi took a sip of cold water and smiled. "I just got back not long ago. You all were so absorbed that I didn't want to disturb you. It's almost noon. What do you want to eat? I'll order takeout for you."

"Thanks, Brother Yi..."

That afternoon, Lin Yi returned to his residence.

It was a small Talent Apartment, not very large, only around thirty square meters. It had a cramped bathroom, a kitchen, and a bedroom.

Though the place was small, it was fully furnished and quite comfortable for one person.

After tidying up the room a little, Lin Yi did not rush to enter the Apocalypse World. Instead, he turned on his computer and began searching for game-related information about Heavenly Revelation.

Of course, Lin Yi was not stupid enough to enter keywords such as "Apocalypse World Invitation Code" or "Invitation Code Envelope." After all, searching for certain sensitive keywords online could be detected by certain organizations.

After searching around, Lin Yi found quite a bit of information related to "Heavenly Revelation" online—Apocalypse Digital Company, the Heavenly Revelation era of the Ming Dynasty, and so on—but none of it had anything to do with the bizarre world he had entered that morning.

Just as Lin Yi was about to give up, he found a post in a Baidu Tieba forum called "Horror Player Gathering Place."

The poster was named "I Love Games Most."

The post read: "Selling a special game Activation Code. Low price, three million RMB. Those who understand, understand."

There were plenty of replies, all cursing the original poster for being crazy. What kind of game Activation Code could possibly be worth three million?

Lin Yi did not reply. He merely read through all the comments. When he found no more useful information, he left the forum.

Lin Yi pondered it. An Activation Code worth three million might very well be the Apocalypse Game Activation Code he had entered today.

This showed that quite a few people in the real world had already come into contact with the Apocalypse World. Furthermore, the Activation Codes required to enter the Apocalypse World were scarce and extremely expensive.

Lin Yi stroked his chin. No wonder those Police officers taking statements at the station yesterday had repeatedly asked whether Liu Hong had left anything behind. So that was why...

Apocalypse Continent, Ancient Pool Village.

As light flickered, Lin Yi's figure appeared in the game world once more.

Just like the time difference in reality, the sun in the game was in the southwest. It was probably around one or two in the afternoon.

Near the haystack by his feet was the smoldering fire pit Lin Yi had put out before logging off.

"The game's online time limit is three shichen, which is six hours. This morning, I basically explored all of Ancient Pool Village, taking a little over two hours. That leaves less than four hours. I can't waste them..."

Lin Yi looked at his status panel again and analyzed, "But the knife from reality didn't come in with me, and the Satiety I gained after eating in reality didn't carry over either. It seems the game is the game and reality is reality. The two aren't connected. But how did Old Liu die in reality? Could it have had nothing to do with the game? And if I die in the game, can I revive?"

Lin Yi shook his head. He knew too little about the Apocalypse Game. No matter how much he guessed, it was useless.

However, whenever he thought of Liu Hong dying before his eyes, Lin Yi felt that there was no such thing as being too cautious in this game.

After all, he only had one life.

Next, Lin Yi opened the Omnipotent Talent in his character status panel.

He had spent the entire morning asking for directions and exploring Ancient Pool Village, so he had not had time to study his talent.

Since this Omnipotent Talent could only be drawn once per day, he might as well use it now.

"Draw a talent!"

Then the scene shifted. Lin Yi's consciousness seemed to enter an independent space, where a polyhedral die radiating Seven-Colored Light floated before him.

"Ding! Today's talent has not yet been fixed. Would you like to draw a talent?"

"Draw!"

As light flickered, the polyhedral die spun rapidly before slowly coming to a stop two or three seconds later.

"Ding! You have drawn the white talent 'Astonishingly Good Bones'!"