Chapter Seventeen: The Only Player in the World with a Negative Creepiness Rating
“Perhaps…”
“I suddenly had a stroke of luck, exchanging sugar-roasted chestnuts for a frying pan.”
“It might also be related to my recent understanding of the essence of the Wanderer, a clarity within my heart.”
Chen Ye’s mind stirred, and he immediately activated the Eye of Fortune to observe the aura of luck hovering above his head.
A mist of colorful clouds, adorned with glazed patterns. Like a radiant illusion, this extraordinary phenomenon surrounded him, as if opening a vivid and magnificent new world.
“A fine aura of fortune.”
Chen Ye smiled faintly.
He knew that such an aura, even the “Luck” trait, was hard to come by now.
With a clear heart, all doors wide open, and roads unobstructed… it signified a future world full of brilliant colors and countless choices.
This was the best omen of luck!
Opening his crimson phone again, Chen Ye checked his current personal panel—
Player: Chen Ye
Identity: Wandering Musician
Traits: Wandering Melody, Luck, Heart of a Wanderer, Apprentice: Musician, Apprentice: Chef
Spirit Item: None
Personal Assets: 2 coins
Title Aura: None
Exclusive Talent: Eye of Fortune
Eccentricity Value: 1360
Games Cleared: 0
…
Looking at his panel, Chen Ye couldn’t help but feel satisfied.
“Compared to the beginning, the Wanderer trait has evolved into Wandering Musician.”
“In total, I now have five traits, each with great potential for growth, and no negative traits so far.”
“Fused into a new trait—Apprentice Chef—raising my eccentricity value by three hundred points.”
“Right now, my ranking has climbed to sixty-six.”
“Sixty-six, a lucky number—hope everything goes smoothly from here.”
A faint smile curved his lips. This was a decent start.
Though he hadn’t immediately blasted into the top ranks…
He had two distinct apprentice traits and two different role-playing rules, offering great growth potential.
Moreover, with the protection of the Erhu Elder and the grandmother selling chestnuts willing to assist with culinary skills, his network was progressing well.
At least compared to other lucky players, Chen Ye’s fortune wasn’t extraordinary.
Starting with the hellishly difficult Wanderer class and breaking into the top one hundred on the leaderboard within a day was already a pleasantly surprising result.
He reopened his crimson phone and browsed for a while longer, noticing the chat screen in “Destiny Jianghu” filled with screams, wails, and desperate cries.
All were players facing mortal danger.
Falling into despair, they frantically called for help.
Yet seeking aid online at this stage was utterly futile.
Ordinary people barely cling to life themselves—how could they offer any assistance?
The top players on the leaderboard were all busy raising their eccentricity values and had no time to pay attention.
The chat screen streamed a massive flow of information every minute. Even if some well-meaning players offered help, their advice quickly drowned in the sea of messages.
Add to that the armchair experts pontificating, grandstanding, and issuing dubious commands—true and false information poured out endlessly, blurring the line between valuable and worthless.
Chen Ye closed the crimson phone’s screen and withdrew from the overwhelming flood of messages, gazing up at the darkened night sky.
The sky as a blanket, the earth as a bed.
“Though I wander, at least I’m alive!”
Chen Ye felt a surge of gratitude.
Tonight, he had found a safe place.
A wave of fatigue swept over him like the tide. He closed his eyes and gradually fell asleep in the long night.
…
In Linjiang City, inside a densely packed commercial building.
The elevator doors slowly slid open, and a young woman just over eighteen with striking golden hair stepped out briskly.
“4070…”
She quickly located her room number and pushed the door open, then breathed a sigh of relief.
Turning on the light, the soft warm glow seemed to dispel the darkness and fear, illuminating this modest apartment of less than forty square meters.
On the dining table remained a half-empty bag of cookies.
Beside the bed, on the desk, lay a thick notebook.
“Finally back!”
The golden-haired woman exhaled deeply and carefully placed an oiled paper bag on the table.
Opening it, she found inside a handful of golden, crispy sugar-roasted chestnuts.
Indeed, she was the same person who had recently traded with Chen Ye, known in the social circle as “Nine-Tailed Fox’s Cat.”
In truth,
Nine-Tailed Fox considered herself relatively lucky compared to other players.
Starting with the identity of Recorder and working as an accountant in a small company.
What’s more, she had arrived precisely on payday!
She had thought this was a lucky start…
But never expected that when the boss handed out salaries in the afternoon, every employee’s pay turned out to be nothing but an ugly iron frying pan!
After a whole day of hard work, Nine-Tailed Fox hadn’t eaten anything and stared helplessly at the frying pan.
According to the crimson phone’s records, this didn’t even seem to be a trait item…
It was completely useless!
She had tried to trade it on the Eccentric Black Market for half a day, but hardly anyone was interested.
Just as Nine-Tailed Fox was about to starve, she suddenly noticed Chen Ye was exchanging sugar-roasted chestnuts for cooking-related items!
Wait…
Isn’t the frying pan related to cooking?
However, she suspected Chen Ye was mostly after trait items—after all, while idling at work, she had secretly browsed the crimson phone and knew Chen Ye was actually one of the top one hundred players.
Initially, she hadn’t had much hope when sending the trade invitation.
Unexpectedly, Chen Ye agreed!
…
Then he traded the frying pan for this very bag of sugar-roasted chestnuts.
Nine-Tailed Fox just opened the oiled paper bag. The aroma of the chestnuts immediately wafted to her nose. She eagerly popped one into her mouth and bit down with a crisp crack, as if she would starve to death within seconds if she didn’t eat.
As the flavor of the chestnut flowed from her tongue to her stomach, a warm current spread throughout her body, bringing unprecedented satisfaction!
“I didn’t expect that big shot to be telling the truth… One sugar-roasted chestnut could fill me up so well.”
Surprise flickered in Nine-Tailed Fox’s eyes. She had thought Chen Ye was exaggerating.
How could one chestnut keep her full for an entire day?
But now it seemed…
The chestnut’s effect far exceeded her imagination!
“Oh, right!”
“If I can record information about a top-ranking player, maybe I can boost my eccentricity value a lot!”
Suddenly realizing this, her eyes sparkled as if she had discovered treasure.
The Recorder profession relied on logging various events to role-play and increase eccentricity value.
The more valuable the information recorded, the greater the eccentricity increase.
Of course, the accounting records at the company held no real value.
After a day’s work, she had only gained twenty points of eccentricity.
At this rate…
She wouldn’t catch up to even a fraction of Chen Ye’s progress for who knows how long.
But if she could document a top one hundred player, she might achieve an unprecedented role-playing level!
With this thought, Nine-Tailed Fox immediately analyzed Chen Ye:
“First, this top one hundred big shot must be related to the chef sequence.”
“That’s why he wanted to exchange cooking-related items… As for why he didn’t mention being a chef outright, he’s probably hiding his identity—but luckily, I saw through it!”
“And these sugar-roasted chestnuts must have extraordinary satiating power, likely produced by the Chef trait.”
“This trait should grant the food special functional properties.”
As she pondered, she eagerly opened the black leather notebook on the desk and began to record:
Player: Chen Ye
Identity: Chef
Trait: Able to imbue food with unique abilities
…
“Perfect!”
Nine-Tailed Fox smiled triumphantly. After recording, she prepared to wait for a surge in eccentricity value and hoped to catch a glimpse of the leaderboard’s tail end…
Just then, a sudden alert popped up—
[Warning!]
[You have made an unrealistic record.]
[Eccentricity Value -30!]
Nine-Tailed Fox stared as her eccentricity value plummeted from 20 to -10, her smile instantly freezing…