Free Ride~

"Little World, endless fun."

Ren Suo noticed that the system's startup sound seemed to have changed slightly. Before, it was crisp and bright, as pleasant as a young girl biting into an apple; now, the sound was much calmer, like a middle school girl reading a text aloud.

"As long as it doesn't sound spooky..." Ren Suo muttered. He used to like the anime Thriller Paradise, but the OP (opening theme) of that anime always started with different people saying in a creepy voice, "Welcome to Thriller Paradise," which scared him so much that he always skipped the OP.

Opening the Content Repository, Ren Suo saw the shiny key and immediately breathed a sigh of relief.

"One-Star Insight Key: Additional chance to obtain Insight-type rewards +10%."

It was decent, basically the same description as the One-Star Sleep Key, but while Ren Suo could understand Sleep-type rewards, Insight-type rewards... what the heck?

Fifteen-power eyepiece? An electron microscope with a magnification exceeding three million times?

Anyway, none of that concerned Ren Suo – his luck wasn't great this time, and he didn't trigger the 10% rare chance.

Ren Suo first went to the bathroom to wash his hands with soap, and also turned off the game controller and carefully wiped it with an alcohol cloth.

After all, it's better to believe than not to believe. Maybe this Little World Game Console was a treasure of the immortals, and seeing his sincerity, it would give him some preferential treatment. If licking the game console could increase favorability, Ren Suo would definitely lick it until it was as shiny as if it had been waxed.

Ren Suo nervously opened the reward chest for If You're Strong, Climb 10,000 Meters—

"You consumed 'One-Star Insight Key' to open this chest."

"You obtained the skill 'Infinite Stamina'."

"Infinite Stamina"

"Grade: One-Star Ability, Prerequisite: Possess a physical body."

"Effect: After being equipped by the player, you will have infinite stamina. Although still limited by the maximum physical capacity the body can exert, the base stamina recovery speed will be increased to the MAX limit of the physical capacity of an Erect Carbon-Based Organism of the Third Planet of the Solar System in the Orion Arm on the Edge of the Third Spiral Arm of the Galaxy, and all discomfort will be suppressed to a tolerable range."

"Activation: In the 'Infinite Stamina' state, for every second maintained, 1 second of lifespan is consumed."

"Note: On the path of pursuing the supreme great dao, the Seeker of the Way, almost through asceticism, has exhausted the potential of the mortal body. They represent the limit of mortals—but only the limit of mortals."

"Hmm... it looks like it's seriously explaining the game setting..."

In If You're Strong, Climb 10,000 Meters, if it were just a stickman jumping game, it wouldn't be a big deal, but if it became a real-life female Seeker of the Way climbing the 10,000-meter peak of Mount Hyjal, many unreasonable things would appear.

Leaving aside the Seeker of the Way's final Refining Spirit and Returning to Emptiness—this was the most frequently appearing phrase in the bullet comments, showing that the rise of online novels in recent years has greatly promoted the spread of Taoist culture—just the process of the Seeker of the Way climbing from 0 meters to 10,000 meters without sleep or rest is enough to make people wonder if this is a nuclear-powered robot invented by some mad scientist.

On Earth, there are no people who can't sleep. Only a very small number of special people (no more than five fingers) can be awake almost 24 hours a day, but in fact, their sleep time is scattered. When they close their eyes for a few dozen seconds, they complete a sleep cycle, and accumulated, it makes people feel as if they never sleep, but the longest someone has tried not sleeping is 11 days.

On Earth, a person can live for 2-7 days without drinking water, and up to 90 days without eating, but these are extreme figures, and the actual situation is often shortened depending on a person's psychological and physical condition.

Undoubtedly, the Seeker of the Way's physical performance and psychological state are at the peak of human condition. It seems reasonable for her to climb without sleep, food, or drink for five days... What the heck!

During these five days, she was constantly engaged in climbing and cross-country in the mountains, which consumed a lot of physical energy, unlike those survivors who lay still and tried to minimize physical exertion. Moreover, the entire process was recorded on video without any flaws, and real people even appeared in the video.

The people the Seeker of the Way met included people from Xuan Country and foreigners. Now, video websites in other countries on the internet are going crazy over the Seeker of the Way's video, and TV stations have even conducted remote video interviews with the Seeker of the Way. The authenticity of the Seeker of the Way is now beyond doubt.

Therefore, some people naturally suspect that the Seeker of the Way is one of the 'Transcendent' or 'Awakened' who frequently appear on the internet recently, especially the last scene where the Seeker of the Way transformed into light, which simply makes people fantasize endlessly.

Now, the skill "Infinite Stamina" tells Ren Suo that she is not a cultivator, she is just a mortal, the strongest mortal!

"But this skill actually has a price... that's troublesome." Ren Suo scratched his head.

Maintaining "Infinite Stamina" for 1 second consumes 1 second of lifespan. In other words, if Ren Suo can still live for fifty years, and he maintains this skill of infinite stamina every day from now on, then he is very likely to die of old age directly after 25 years.

Ren Suo thought deeper and felt that he might not even live half his lifespan. Nowadays, the probability of elderly people dying of old age is low; they usually contract age-related diseases due to weakened resistance from physical aging and then pass away from illness. So, after reducing his lifespan by half, Ren Suo would likely enter old age prematurely and also die early from various age-related illnesses.

However, he would try it out first.

Ren Suo opened the "Equipment Interface," unequipped the "Introduction to Fighting" he was currently using, and equipped "Infinite Stamina."

As soon as he equipped it, Ren Suo felt something was wrong.

He had been feeling a bit tired just now from practicing the advanced Breathing Method, like a normal person whose mouth is tired from sucking snails. His whole body felt a bit sluggish, and his mind was as difficult to concentrate as after doing three hours of comprehensive science papers, which was why he stopped to play games.

However, as soon as "Infinite Stamina" was equipped, Ren Suo found himself as clear-headed and energetic as if he had read several erotic books. His body was also as full of energy as if he had just gotten off work, feeling as light as if he had shed several hundred pounds of fat.

Ren Suo stood up and bounced around the room. He first did a hundred push-ups and found he wasn't tired at all. Then, while doing sit-ups, he ran the advanced Breathing Method and started cultivating again...

He only stopped to wipe himself with a towel when he broke into a sweat and felt a bit uncomfortable.

Ren Suo looked in the mirror, at the sweat on his body, and felt the slight soreness in his muscles. He felt better than ever – he could continue exercising, continue cultivating!

"...It's quite good," Ren Suo thought happily, unequipped "Infinite Stamina."

Then, the next second after unequipping it, Ren Suo's legs went soft, and he directly knelt in the bathroom! Fortunately, he grabbed the sink with his hands, otherwise, his whole body would have fallen!

Endless soreness invaded Ren Suo's entire body like an octopus. He felt that his body was no longer his own; he was just a soul attached to a pile of rotten flesh.

"Equip, quickly equip 'Infinite Stamina'..." As soon as this thought arose, Ren Suo immediately calmly extinguished this foolish idea.

It took a full ten minutes for Ren Suo to slowly straighten his back and crawl back to the sofa like a baby. Looking at "Infinite Stamina" in the backup slot in the equipment interface, a trace of fear flashed in his eyes.

He had never smoked, nor had he tried forbidden drugs, but Ren Suo knew that this skill in front of him had many similarities with those addictive forbidden substances.

Harmful, dependent, inescapable.

Ren Suo knew that if he equipped "Infinite Stamina" now to escape the physical soreness, weakness, and mental fatigue, he would be unable to escape the control of this skill for the rest of his life, and half of his lifespan would inevitably be consumed here.

That state of health, like escaping hell and returning to heaven, was too tempting for humans. He even suspected that this skill might also cause the brain to secrete endorphins – the painful fatigue generated by his muscles was almost completely blocked.

This was a tonic like poison. If he didn't want to age prematurely, Ren Suo could only use this skill to save his life when necessary.

Wasting it on "luxuries" like equipping this skill to play games all night was something Ren Suo would only think about.

After a while longer, Ren Suo knew he probably couldn't go down to eat, so he called Jian Ji downstairs.

"Hello."

"Got it."

Ren Suo looked at his phone and thought, Does the landline downstairs have caller ID?

Sitting on the sofa with difficulty, Ren Suo opened the "World Store" and went straight to "This Month's Free Game" –

"It's you!"

After thinking about it before going to bed last night, Ren Suo had already decided which game he would be lucky enough to get for free this month –

Cross My Corpse!