It was a damp and chilly December in Nankang City.
The cold air seeped through the gaps in his trousers, enveloping his body uncomfortably.
Gao Yi looked around blankly and quickly determined that he was standing at Exit 2 of the Hongshan Temple subway station.
His recent experiences in the fog and the supermarket now flickered in his mind like fleeting shadows.
Like a dream, like an illusion.
Only when he raised his left wrist and looked at the strange tattoo that had suddenly appeared on him did Gao Yi find a sense of certainty.
It wasn't a dream; he had truly participated in a bizarre “script” and successfully cleared it.
The rain hadn't stopped, and Gao Yi, standing under the eaves of the exit, touched the sling bag on his body.
His shirt, phone, notebook, and all his personal belongings were still there.
Recalling, these items were clearly scattered on the subway, but now they were all neatly gathered in his bag.
“Quite humane, I guess…”
He shook his head with a smile and pulled out his phone.
A flood of news reports and debt collection messages filled the small screen, giving him a headache, and he instinctively cleared the notification bar.
It was already nine in the evening; a quick estimate showed that the long experience in the “instance” had only taken a few minutes in reality.
But at this moment, Gao Yi suddenly realized a problem.
He had just been on the last train when an anomaly occurred, and the Return Ticket automatically placed him in a safe location.
That was Exit 2 of the “Hongshan Temple” subway station where Gao Yi was currently.
And now, the entire Subway Line 3 had stopped operating.
So, how was he going to get home?
Hongshan Temple was still two stops away from Gao Yi’s destination, a straight-line distance of about five kilometers.
And if you still remember, Gao Yi was not only heavily in debt but had also used his last money to buy a voice recorder that could automatically upload to the cloud.
He was now literally penniless.
Under these circumstances, taking a taxi was naturally out of the question.
If this were another city, Gao Yi might have been able to find a shared bicycle.
But in Nankang City, a mountainous city built on the fringes of a basin, cycling was basically self-torture, and no company would bother to deploy bikes there.
He sighed slightly, looking at the drizzle that showed no signs of stopping.
With no other choice, Gao Yi hugged his sling bag and quickly rushed into the dark rain.
...
10:30 PM, inside the rental apartment.
Gao Yi, having finished his shower, wore slippers and slowly dried his hair with a bath towel.
It’s worth mentioning that since his de facto bankruptcy, he hadn’t visited a barbershop for over two months, leaving his curly hair somewhat difficult to manage.
He looked around the room; the small one-bedroom, one-living-room rental was kept quite clean by Gao Yi.
Due to his impoverished state, he couldn’t afford any decorations, and most of the furniture in the entire room was left by the landlord and previous tenants.
The style could be described as “simple” or “primitive.”
Gao Yi had considered co-living, but his often irregular lifestyle and nocturnal habits were quite a torment for roommates.
After several comparisons, he finally chose this youth apartment.
The owner of this small building in the near suburbs was a kind-faced old woman, and Gao Yi’s “Friend of Elderly Women” skill had leveled up to two because of her.
Considering the fact that Gao Yi already owed one and a half months’ rent, “kind-faced” might not be enough to describe the landlady’s kindness.
Setting aside these complicated trivia, Gao Yi, dressed in his pajamas, sat at his desk and began organizing the gains from the previous “script.”
He first summoned the light screen and noticed a rather “game-like” mail icon in the upper right corner; upon clicking it, the first line read a small sentence.
“Script Summary — Heart’s Deceptive Fog”
After clicking, a large string of information poured out.
“Cleared Instance: Heart’s Deceptive Fog (Five of Cups)”
“Completed Main Quest III: Find the truth of the script and defeat it”
“Script Rewards Issued: One Return Ticket, minor increase in player evolution rate, random potion * 8, small amount of game currency”
“Cleared script ‘Heart’s Deceptive Fog,’ obtained Trait ‘Armchair Detective,’ obtained Item ‘Fog Mask’”
“Player’s first script completion detected, ‘Attributes’ panel unlocked”
Following the prompt, he slid the light screen again, and the attribute panel appeared.
“Player Nickname: Gao Yi”
“Player Level: E”
“Evolution Rate: 10%”
“Game Currency: 500”
“Traits (1/3): ① Armchair Detective (Purple): Significantly increases perception and observation; active use can greatly enhance information collection and processing capabilities for a short period”
“Items (2/5): ① Fog Mask (Purple): Randomly changes user’s appearance, physique, and voice for one hour.
② Director’s Whistle (Orange): Unknown”
“Potions (8/20): ① C-grade Physical Healing Potion * 1: Stops bleeding, alleviates pain, rapidly restores physical damage, but has limited effect on large limb loss or severe physical tears.
② C-grade Evolution Potion * 1: Moderately increases player evolution, usable for players up to C-grade.
③ B-grade Damage Potion * 1: Can be used externally or internally, essential for home travel and killing.
④ E-grade Physical Healing Potion * 5: Stops bleeding, alleviates pain, slowly restores physical damage, but is ineffective against limb loss, severe physical tears, or large wounds.”
“Ticket Holder: Heart’s Deceptive Fog (Cleared), Toy War (Eight of Swords), Black Island Prison (Seven of Wands)”
“Next Game Countdown: Fifteen days”
Taking out his notebook, Gao Yi meticulously summarized his new abilities and began experimenting in his rental apartment.
The most obvious change was the effect of the Trait 【Armchair Detective】: 【Significantly increases perception and observation】.
The moment it unlocked, Gao Yi felt as if the entire world had become much clearer.
First, his five senses were greatly enhanced, especially his hearing.
The movements of his neighbors in the surrounding rental units became clearly audible: the upstairs office worker exercising, the couple next door engaging in their two-person activity, the mother downstairs guiding her child with homework...
Even the beating of his own heart in his chest, Gao Yi could clearly hear its pulsations.
Then, Gao Yi tried its active ability: 【Can greatly enhance information collection and processing capabilities for a short period】.
Instantly, his already strong information collection ability received another boost.
Standing up, Gao Yi looked at his hands in disbelief.
He was now in a state similar to “bullet time,” feeling as if everything around him had become extremely slow.
At the same time, a vast amount of details he had never noticed before were rapidly captured, analyzed, and deduced by him.
Looking out the window, from the overturned street trash can, animal droppings, and subtle scratches on the wall.
Gao Yi could even recreate the scene of a wildcat fight that had occurred earlier from a third-person perspective, like watching a play—he could even pause and rewind at will.
This had absolutely exceeded the scope of normal human abilities; in a sense, it had entered another domain.
Gao Yi’s current ability was infinitely close to, or even surpassed, the detective characters that only appeared in fictional novels.
Of course, after the duration of this 【Armchair Detective】 trait skill ended—which was about a minute or so—Gao Yi’s brain suddenly began to throb intensely.
Clearly, this was the consequence of exceeding his limits.
Perhaps as his 【Evolution Rate】 as a “player” increased, he could better utilize this ability.
But for the current Gao Yi, using it once within twenty-four hours was already his limit.
And that was enough to keep him feeling as exhausted as after an all-nighter for several hours.
The script rewards also included two items.
The 【Director’s Whistle】 given by the little boy director at the end, he truly had no idea what its use was.
However, the 【Fog Mask】 was quite straightforward.
Following the instructions, Gao Yi made a sweeping motion across his forehead, and a pale, swirling mask appeared on his face.
Just as its description stated, it could 【randomly change the user’s appearance, physique, and voice for one hour】.
After Gao Yi used it, he saw his reflection in the mirror blur, as if enveloped by layers of mist.
When it became clear again, he had transformed into a bloated, middle-aged bald man.
From his posture to his voice, there was no longer a trace of Gao Yi himself.
It must be said, this 【Fog Mask】 was indeed very useful.
But the problem was that its changes were random, and he couldn’t use this mask to disguise himself as a specific person.
This immediately reduced its scope of application significantly.
Of course, this one-hour disguise still offered a lot of room for maneuver, it just required more thought and experimentation.
The remaining gains included two “tickets” and eight “potions.”
They were all single-use, so Gao Yi couldn't experiment with them.
He could only put them away for now, planning to gather information starting tomorrow and then make further plans.
Reopening the light screen, Gao Yi looked at the very bottom of his 【Attributes】.
The last line clearly read:
“Next Game Countdown: Fifteen days”
“So, in at most half a month, I’ll have to participate in another ‘game’?”
Gao Yi murmured, tapping his right knuckle twice on the desk, as if having made some decision.
But before further planning, he still had a reward to claim.
In his 【Tag System】, he had also completed a 【Special Mission】.
........................................