“Ding, ding, ding, ding….”
A piercing alarm clock rang from inside the room.
Gao Yi suddenly opened his bloodshot eyes and struggled to get out of bed, walking to the other end of the room to turn off his phone alarm.
Everyone has probably experienced taking an afternoon nap and waking up at night. When you wake up and look at the empty room, with the faint twilight, you feel as if you’ve been abandoned by the entire world.
Of course, for Gao Yi, who was already accustomed to solitude and a reversed day-night schedule, this negative emotion didn’t affect him much.
At this moment, he was celebrating that his landlady’s infrastructure was well-maintained, with a radiator in the bedroom; otherwise, getting up in this weather would be torture.
However, getting up and working at various inhumane times was basically Gao Yi’s daily routine.
The most regular period of his life after becoming a reporter was actually during those few months he spent undercover in a mental hospital.
During that time, he genuinely went to bed early and woke up late, incredibly healthy.
Of course, the tranquilizers he was forced to take and the occasional beatings from the orderlies were another matter.
He checked the time; it was already five-thirty in the evening.
Only two and a half hours remained until the agreed-upon transaction time.
“Changing clothes, preparing equipment, reviewing recent news and intelligence in advance, communicating with the seller…”
He rubbed his dark circles, walked to the sink to splash water on his face, and muttered his upcoming plans.
He was the type to meticulously plan everything in advance, which he probably attributed to his innate bad luck and his complete lack of expectation for “trusting fate’s arrangements.”
Taking travel as an example, some people can wander freely and suddenly discover beautiful, sparsely populated scenery and delicious food in hidden alleys.
However, if Gao Yi didn’t inquire and plan ahead, he would arrive at a scenic spot only to find it closed for the day, or at a restaurant only to find it had gone out of business last week…
He sighed, looking at the two items in his hand with ticking time limits.
The two 【Daily Quests】 from the Tag System, he still couldn’t see how to complete them.
【Tag Quests: ① Investigate a secret organization and write a report; ② Perform a good deed that benefits over a thousand people】
Investigating a secret organization and performing good deeds were both things that couldn’t be forced.
On the other side was the ticket, 【West City Strange Affairs (Sword 7)】.
The countdown below had turned to 【03:27:22】, meaning it would begin in just three and a half hours.
It was said that the wanted criminal named “Zhang Tu” would enter this script tonight.
“A million bounty…”
Gao Yi couldn’t help but swallow; the money was indeed tempting.
He shook his head, still needing to calm down.
He had only entered his first script last night; he was an absolute novice now.
Was he supposed to confront a vicious wanted criminal head-on in his second script?
That was absolutely suicidal behavior.
Gao Yi was indeed a person with a sense of justice, and he genuinely believed that Zhang Tu deserved to die.
But that didn’t mean he had to put himself in danger, to fight for his life.
According to the forum, there were two types of tickets: time-limited and unlimited.
Unlimited tickets could only be used when the countdown under the 【Attributes】 list ended, meaning they had to be chosen when entering a dungeon.
The other type was the time-limited ones like 【West City Strange Affairs】 he held, and 【Heart-Stirring Mist】 from last night.
Using them at a fixed time would also reset the player’s personal dungeon countdown.
Some posts claimed that tickets with their own countdowns were often very dangerous.
Of course, if one didn’t want to use them, they could be placed in the 【Inventory】 and would automatically convert into a certain value of game currency when the time limit expired.
In other words, even if Gao Yi didn’t use this 【West City Strange Affairs】 ticket, he would still get some income—though very little.
“Forget it, don’t let these time limits affect me. Don’t use the ticket, don’t do the daily quests, just focus on the transaction today.”
Gao Yi splashed his face with cold water again, looked at his bloodshot eyes in the mirror, and made another vow:
“Tonight, I’m definitely going to get a good night’s sleep when I get back!”
.......
6:50 PM.
The chain store in the city center was packed with people.
Looking up, the entire supermarket interior was a sea of red.
Half of it was for the upcoming Christmas next week, and the other half was for the Spring Festival two months later.
On this rare weekend, many people chose to come out to buy New Year’s goods and supplies.
Especially with the frequent strange occurrences recently, many people had the idea of staying home and stocking up on food and daily necessities.
The result was that Gao Yi had to squeeze for a long time before finally managing to reach the lockers.
At this moment, he was wearing a thick down jacket, jeans, and a baseball cap with a very wide brim.
He had originally wanted to wear sunglasses, but it was too inappropriate for late at night and would only make him more conspicuous.
So he settled for a wide scarf, covering the lower half of his face.
“Let me see, 1, 5, 7, 8…”
Muttering the message on his phone softly, Gao Yi pressed the numbers.
As expected, a locker door on the right popped open with a “bang,” revealing a brown paper tote bag.
“This place is much more professional; unlike that person who just threw the potion into the cabinet…”
Gao Yi muttered, stuffing the potion into his bag, then into the 【Inventory】 on his wrist.
At the same time, he casually glanced around.
Relying on the superb observation skills granted by 【Armchair Detective】, Gao Yi easily confirmed there were no signs of being followed.
Very good, it seemed both merchants he chose were trustworthy.
He conveniently deposited the final payment into another locker, setting a timer so that the password would automatically be sent to the seller in half an hour—this was also a built-in feature of the “Forum.”
In any case, the designer of this forum had put thought into it.
By the way, 【Game Coins】 could be materialized, roughly appearing as red-glowing coins that felt quite substantial in hand.
He checked his phone; it was already past seven o’clock.
Gao Yi didn’t delay, casually picked up the tote bag, and walked towards the other end of the commercial street.
According to the address given by the 【Graduate Student】 player, he headed towards Hulong Mall Building A.
Hulong Mall was located in the central business district of Nankang City, a veritable landmark building.
Dining, apparel, luxury goods, film, furniture, games—it could be said to encompass everything.
Of course, this came with an extremely large flow of people.
Even though undercurrents were surging in Nankang City recently, ordinary people’s desire for entertainment and consumption would not dissipate.
Gao Yi did not go directly to the meeting point but turned into a restroom on the second floor.
He chose an empty cubicle and sat on the toilet lid—yes, this high-end mall used toilet seats.
The first thing he took out was a tube of 【E-grade Evolution Potion】.
Its color was dark green, similar to Gao Yi’s own 【C-grade Evolution Potion】, but it looked much cloudier.
“According to the forum, continuous use reduces effectiveness… So I’ll just have one bottle first.”
Muttering to himself, Gao Yi twisted open the cap and drank the entire bottle of dark green potion in one gulp.
It tasted awful.
This was Gao Yi’s first reaction.
Its taste was bitter, like a dose of traditional Chinese medicine, and its overall consistency was close to a gel, making it difficult for Gao Yi to swallow.
But once it entered his stomach, the changes it brought were very obvious.
Gao Yi clearly felt his whole body heating up, a sensation like “unblocked meridians” in wuxia novels; it felt as if his entire being had been cleansed from the inside out.
The regrettable thing was that this sensation came and went quickly.
After the “clean feeling” in his body completely disappeared, the only difference left was that his 【Evolution Rate】 in the 【Attribute List】 had changed from 10% to 15%.
He couldn’t do any exercises in the toilet cubicle to test it, but Gao Yi believed that his various physical qualities should indeed have been slightly improved.
“Next, a transformation.”
He glanced at his phone; the time had already reached seven fifty-nine.
Gao Yi no longer hesitated, gently swiping his hand across his face, and the 【Mist Mask】 was donned.
This was also his previous plan: relying on its active effect 【randomly change the user’s appearance, body shape, and voice within one hour】 to change his identity and hide himself to the maximum extent.
Of course, providing cover for his alternate identity was also one of the goals, but it was just a side benefit.
In any case, Gao Yi no longer hesitated, gently closed his eyes, and pressed his thumb lightly on his temple according to the instructions.
A moment later, when he opened his eyes again, Gao Yi clearly felt changes in his body.
His figure had become much thinner, and his chest felt heavy.
He inwardly cried out in alarm, quickly opened his phone, and looked at himself using the front-facing camera.
His guess was indeed confirmed; this time, the transformed image was a female.
Nothing else mattered; in fact, becoming the opposite sex could better hide his identity.
But the problem was…
“I’m in the men’s restroom right now…”
Gao Yi sighed as he heard an unfamiliar, beautiful female voice come from his mouth.
....................