Chapter Three: The Virtuous Trickster Citizen

That’s right! This lousy game must be targeting me for being a beta tester, perhaps intentionally ramping up the difficulty in the shadows.

Starting off with luck comparable to the unluckiest of souls...

However, [Wanderer] is precisely linked to luck. Whether to draw a unique talent depends entirely on Chen Ye himself. Regardless of when one chooses to draw, every player will automatically roll for other unique talents next month—on May 1st. For the average player, drawing early means enjoying the benefits early!

However, Chen Ye felt something was wrong with his luck from the very start. Moreover, since the [Wanderer] trait allows for the accumulation of luck, it might be better to save it for later. Even if a unique talent can only be retained for a month, drawing a better one later would help him climb higher on the rankings and accumulate more traits in the "Era of Weirdness." It’s like a snowball effect; if one can secure more resources in the early stages, they will have stronger competitiveness for the resources that follow!

Thinking of this, Chen Ye decided against drawing immediately. Instead, he chose to leverage the [Wanderer] trait and walk ten thousand miles first.

Looking around, he found himself in a dim, narrow alley. A deep night had descended upon the earth, and only by utilizing the light from his blood-colored phone could he make out the surrounding environment. It looked like an abandoned slum; the ground was riddled with potholes, the paths were piled high with trash, and nearby shops had long since shuttered, ignored by everyone. The shop signs, weathered by time, had collapsed halfway, creating a scene of utter desolation.

On the other side of the low-tiled houses, the faint, bustling sound of car horns could be heard. The neon lights of Night City dyed the sky outside a deep, crimson red, as if a thin mist of blood were lingering in the night sky.

Chen Ye walked toward the mouth of the alley. As the view ahead became brighter, a source of light appeared—an overpass highway.

"Longhua Avenue?" Chen Ye couldn't help but pause. From the contours of the surrounding shops, he recognized this as the familiar Linjiang City.

However, once he stepped out, the streets were deathly quiet. There were even fewer vehicles than there had been after the blood-colored countdown appeared!

In the distance, a few sporadic pedestrians could be seen on both sides of the overpass, walking slowly toward the bridge. Their movements were stiff, like puppets being manipulated, walking down the road like zombies.

Just then, a man with a pockmarked face passed by Chen Ye. Like the others, he walked with a limp, his gray pupils hollow and vacant.

But when Chen Ye’s gaze landed on the man...

The next second, the man glared at Chen Ye with fury, his mouth emitting a harsh, grating grinding sound, as if he were about to pounce!

The man's face gradually developed cracks, splitting into pieces of flesh resembling melon rinds. Starting from his nose, it tore open bit by bit, like a blooming flower of blood!

*Click, click, click!!!*

Before long, his entire face had completely disintegrated. The split flesh fluttered into the air like living willow catkins, stretching out in six directions. Each "catkin" was a full half-meter long, lined with a row of sharp teeth. If they were to wrap around someone, they could swallow an upper torso in a single bite.

Chen Ye felt a chill shoot straight to his crown!

However, he quickly took a deep breath, using his immense willpower to suppress the fear in his heart. His mind became clear and calm, and he swiftly shifted his gaze away from the pockmarked man.

Generally speaking, when people face extreme terror, they are so shocked that their eyes remain fixed on the source of the danger, unable to look away. But Chen Ye remembered clearly: the Wanderer's gaze carries a taunting effect! If you stare at others for too long, you will thoroughly enrage these weird entities!

The key is "for too long"! If you withdraw your gaze in time, the anger of the source of danger will subside, and they generally won't harm you without cause.

Sure enough, when Chen Ye withdrew his gaze, the pockmarked man stopped in his tracks and tilted his head, seemingly bewildered by his sudden outburst of anger. The next second, the bloody petals of flesh on his face gradually closed, reassembling into the man's head.

He pressed his index fingers against his temples to steady his head. Once it was firmly in place, he resumed his limping walk. Throughout the entire process, the pockmarked man didn't even glance at Chen Ye. The murderous intent he had displayed just moments ago vanished without a trace, as if he were merely passing by an insignificant stranger.

"That was close..."

"I only encountered a relatively low-level weird entity in the Era of Weirdness; he must just be a regular resident. He seems to have a decent temper—a model citizen with good self-cultivation and emotional management. If it weren't for my taunting eyes, he likely wouldn't have lost his temper."

Chen Ye analyzed the situation based on the man's quick return to a calm state and his knowledge of the Era of Weirdness. Had he encountered a slightly more hot-tempered "Lord Weird," he wouldn't have escaped a brutal beating, even if he had averted his eyes in time!

Afterward, he understood that he absolutely could not let his gaze fall upon other residents at will. Even a "good citizen" couldn't handle the provocation of his trait, which would inevitably trigger a murderous reaction. However, human instinct makes it very easy to let one's gaze fall on others, whether intentional or not.

Chen Ye thought for a moment and decided to adopt a good habit to restrain himself: looking down at his phone!

He pulled out the blood-colored phone and kept his eyes on the screen. This way, his attention was completely occupied, preventing him from accidentally making eye contact with pedestrians.

Aside from [Personal Information], he hadn't yet clicked on the [Weirdness Forum] or the [Monthly Ranking]. Chen Ye pondered for a moment, then opened the [Weirdness Forum] to see what kind of discussions were taking place.

Upon opening the forum, he found it divided into three sub-sections: "Destiny Jianghu," "Romance and Flowers," and "Weird Black Market"...

"Destiny Jianghu" was essentially a massive public chat room where everyone could send messages. Clicking into it, he saw a flood of messages—hundreds of new ones popping up every second. They were almost uniformly players expressing their despair at arriving in the instance for the first time, complaining about the dangers they had encountered, or howling in hopelessness.

"If a web novelist were writing this, they could probably stretch it out for several chapters," Chen Ye thought, amused by the scrolling text before closing the chat window.

For now, the chat room was filled with players who had just arrived in the Era of Weirdness; their content was mostly cries for help, wailing, and complaints, saturated with negative energy. Even if there were a few valuable pieces of information, it would take ages to find them.

Chen Ye had no intention of wasting time browsing useless information. He clicked on [Romance and Flowers]. This was a section similar to a message board. Although there were still many players posting for help, the volume wasn't as chaotic as the public chat.

Scrolling down, he managed to find a few valuable posts:

"Brothers, has your body undergone any strange changes?"

"Whatever you do, stay away from the cake shop on West Street!"

"Linjiang University alumni, assemble and form a group!"