While the two of them were away, Zhu Yan got out of bed, opened a cup of bubble tea, and enjoyed a delicious scallion pancake.
He had bought these two items days ago at the food street behind the school. Because they had been stored in his spatial ring, they were still warm when he took them out.
Then, he put on the navy blue uniform issued by the school and leisurely strolled over to the library.
Strangely, the slime that should have been directing things on the sports field was still sitting as steady as a mountain on its mushroom cap, looking down at Zhu Yan from above.
"Oh, an old acquaintance. What are you looking for me for?"
Zhu Yan returned the plastic bracelet from last time to it. "I'm here to look up some information on thriller creatures and humans. Is that okay? How much?"
He wanted to look up the boss of Frog Convenience Store, and the boss of Auntie Jin's Braised Noodles.
Actually, he wanted to look up everyone, but this lump of slime was a school teacher.
Looking up two could be explained as a coincidence; looking up five would be cheating.
As for what the Monsters' Feast was, he figured he definitely wouldn't be able to find out.
"I thought you wouldn't look up such nobodies."
Twenty minutes later, the slime handed him a torn piece of cardboard.
"Why don't you look up the boss of Nightmare Bookstore?"
Zhu Yan took the cardboard and quickly pulled out his phone to take a picture.
"Nightmare Bookstore hasn't scammed me yet," he casually made up an excuse. "But when I went shopping at Frog Convenience Store yesterday, the toad inside scammed me out of a lot of money."
The slime muttered something in a squelchy voice, but Zhu Yan didn't catch it.
He looked down to scan the information on the cardboard, and his brows locked together when he saw the toad's level.
"Name: The Frog That Isn't a Toad"
"Thriller Creature Level: Lv. 14"
Level 14?
Help me.
What right did he have to go looking for a key right under the nose of a Level 14 thriller creature?
Because... because he was delicious?
Zhu Yan immediately bit the tip of his tongue.
If he didn't, he really was going to pass out.
"Thriller Creature Abilities: Excellent dynamic vision, a modified and precise sense of smell, and a highly poisonous tongue so fast you can't evade it."
"Thriller Creature Weaknesses: To players and thriller creatures below Level 14, it has no weaknesses."
"Its static vision is extremely poor; it is severely nearsighted even among the severely nearsighted. But what does that matter?"
"It can accurately sniff out the scents of all different things and use that to judge their strength!"
Alright, alright.
That's too overpowered, Brother Toad.
Zhu Yan was out of ideas.
He slid his gaze down, and the last line of text was actually a small advertisement for Frog Convenience Store.
"Come to Frog Convenience Store for your shopping! I have things you couldn't even imagine!"
Zhu Yan felt a bit annoyed reading it.
Not wanting to force himself to think, he quickly looked at the next piece of information regarding the boss of Auntie Jin's Braised Noodles.
"Name: Auntie Jin"
"Thriller Creature Level: Lv. 6"
Zhu Yan felt a wave of relief.
Good heavens, comparison really does bring pleasant surprises.
"Thriller Creature Abilities: Making delicious braised noodles (don't ask what they're made of), a screech that can shatter existences below Level 6, and a pair of wings."
"Thriller Creature Weaknesses: To existences below Level 6, it has no weaknesses. The only thing to note is to not let it vocalize."
Fortunately, Zhu Yan was Level 7; he could tank it if he had to.
There was no advertisement at the bottom of the slip this time; satisfied, Zhu Yan read it over twice and bid the slime farewell.
He slowly walked out of the library and noticed that the sky was getting dark again.
Waves of screams and cries drifted over from the direction of the large sports field far away, mixed with a few rather indistinct complaints.
Very pitiful.
However, what did that have to do with Zhu Yan?
If he didn't take action, he was about to become an even more pitiful person.
This time, the female voice broadcast did not specifically explain the rule that "thriller creatures must not harm the Hunter" to him, nor did it give the Hunter any other hints.
In short, he needed to take precautions just in case.
Thinking of this, Zhu Yan quickened his pace toward Frog Convenience Store.
Ten minutes later.
As soon as he pushed open the glass door, he heard the toad's enthusiastic greeting.
"Hello," it said. "It's you. What do you want to buy this time?"
Zhu Yan started to lie.
"I offended a player who has very strong perception. Boss, do you have anything here that can cover up my body scent?"
Frog Convenience Store had everything, didn't it?
If he could use an item bought from the convenience store to mask himself from the convenience store boss's sense of smell, his operation should be a bit easier.
Zhu Yan added, "His ability is Level 16, I—"
"Level 16?!" The toad's blood-red eyes darted around. "Where in the school is there a player like that?"
"From Bailu City," Zhu Yan said, feigning nervousness. "You know my identity; they are hunting down the Hunter."
The toad's throat bulged, and it relaxed.
"I don't have anything of such a high level here."
"However, if you are willing to pay 200 bone coins, I can give you a 500ml aerosol spray that makes it impossible for Level 15 abilities to sniff out any scent. It lasts for 2 hours."
"Its function is to melt away your scent, allowing you to blend perfectly with your surroundings."
Zhu Yan didn't move, so the toad couldn't even see his position clearly.
It smelled the scent of the new school uniform and the wonderful fleshy aroma belonging to a Level 7 player, carrying a perfectly balanced decaying aura of Trembling Joy.
Oh my goodness, a piece of fresh meat with a bacon flavor!
Moreover, a Level 7 player smelled much better than those Level 1 small fry from yesterday.
The toad involuntarily flicked its scarlet tongue.
"How about it? Do you still have money?"
Selling things brought massive profits; it still wanted money.
If he didn't have money, it would eat him immediately. It could pretend it didn't know this guy was the Hunter.
If he had money, it would take the money and then slowly look for him in the instance tomorrow to eat him.
Anyway, it recognized the scent of this person's dorm room door.
Furthermore, it had lied.
Even if he used the aerosol spray, the duration wasn't 2 hours; it was only 20 minutes.
In 20 minutes, what could this clueless player do in a drastically changing environment?
"I still have money." Zhu Yan took out his campus card. "Give me two bottles."
"There is only one bottle left in stock," the toad immediately retorted.
It had its eyes on him; it couldn't let him hide for too long.
It had already thought it through.
Since its static vision was so poor anyway.
When the time came, even if this person showed it the Hunter mark in his hand, it wouldn't be able to see it.
If it couldn't see it, it would pretend it didn't know.
If it heard it, it would pretend it hadn't.
It wanted to eat!
"Alright."
Zhu Yan caught the hunger in the toad's eyes.
This thing was hungry. Those red eyes were icy cold, like a warning red light, or a laser dot a shooter uses to aim at prey.
But why wouldn't it sell to him?
Given how greedy for money this thing looked yesterday, Zhu Yan didn't believe it was out of stock.
"Boss, I want to stock up on some goods. I'll be going outside after the start-of-term exams are over."
"Then come back after the exams are over."
The toad's mouth cracked open, revealing a slimy maw. Its scarlet tongue flicked vaguely in Zhu Yan's direction.
"We'll have stock then."
No matter how slow on the uptake Zhu Yan might be, he could tell something was wrong.
This thing clearly wanted to eat him.
He was a [Hunter]—would it actually try to eat him anyway?
"I am a [Hunter]."
For a brief moment, Zhu Yan felt he sounded a lot like Yang Zhanbai.
The toad rolled its tongue, its scarlet eyes gleaming even brighter.
"Yes, I know. You're a [Hunter]," it said with complete indifference.
Zhu Yan understood.
For whatever reason, this creature didn't care about that rule.
More importantly, it seemed to have guessed the significance of the aerosol spray.
"Alright, then I'll just take one bottle." Zhu Yan narrowed his eyes.
It was fine; he still had a backup plan.
He remembered that normal toads hated getting chili water in their nostrils. He wondered if the same applied to a giant mutated toad.
The toad rummaged through its apron pocket, pulled out a spray bottle that looked like insecticide, and handed it over.
Zhu Yan took the item and strolled past the store's shelves.
There was Mexican-style hot sauce here.
There was also the insanely spicy chili oil he used to see all the time in supermarkets.
With a shift of his will, Zhu Yan activated his ability, [Telekinesis].
He pushed open the glass door of the [Frog Convenience Store] and stepped out into the school's gray fog.
His hands, however, weren't idle. Across a distance of over ten meters, he snatched up a good amount of chili oil and hot sauce.
his freshman year, Su Bai accidentally bound the "Indulgence Tycoon System." 【Sleeping in? Reward: +$1,000】 【Spent $288 at a street barbecue stall? Cashback: +$2,880】 【Dropped $14,396 on in-game skins? Special reward unlocked: A brand-new Porsche Panamera!】 Luxury cars, penthouses, corporate shares, financial empires… College life was all about living freely and doing whatever he pleased! … When the adorably naive academic genius faced family medical bills and financial struggles, Su Bai waved his hand dismissively: "Your future is on me." "Wuwu~ Big Brother is so good to me! I’ll become a scientist to repay you!" When the genius girl got bullied by a shady professor? Su Bai casually dropped a billion-dollar investment, forcing the university to grovel and beg for her return. A company’s funding chain collapsing? Su Bai smirked—cash was the one thing he’d never run out of. Years later, when people traced the rise of the AI prodigy beauty, who was the man behind her success? Not just that—Su Bai also became the tsundere campus belle’s unattainable dream, the contrast senior’s daily necessity, and the beautiful counselor’s emotional anchor…
to panic—he has a system. As long as an investment target dies, he can claim a reward. And since he is immortal, the one thing he has plenty of is time. ... Countless years later. “Immortal Emperor of Longevity? I invested in him.” “Supreme Celestial Venerable? I invested in him.” “Undying Empress? I invested in her.” “...” “Heh. Once they’ve all died, even the Heavenly Dao will have to kneel and call me Dad.”
shall grant"] ["Inscribing the glory of our race upon tombstones"] ["All that is threatened, I shall protect"] How his younger sister sees her brother: A brother who only makes eye contact once a day, mostly fading into the background as he tinkers with who-knows-what in his room all day. Their life paths should have remained largely separate. Until one day. Su Qi created an equipment card for his never-met "online girlfriend." His sister fell into silent contemplation upon receiving the "white stockings." [Card can be upgraded] [Upgrade by fulfilling any of the following conditions] [Condition ①: Consume one hundred higher-tier cards] [Condition ②: Complete one 'Heart-Pounding Adventure'] What constitutes a Heart-Pounding Adventure? [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Beginner Level): Equip the card and invite 'Su Qi' to admire it.] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Easy Level): Equip the card, invite 'Su Qi' to touch it, and analyze the equipment's texture.] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Entry Level): Equip the card and invite 'Su Qi' to...] [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Challenge Level): Freely combine the words 'Brother' 'Out' 'Brother' 'Me' 'Please' into a complete sentence...] "Please help me analyze both teams' mistakes in this match, brother..." His sister exhaled in relief—surely... surely there couldn't be anything more difficult? [Heart-Pounding Adventure (Suicide Mission Level): Sneak a peek at the names of the galgames in 'Su Qi's' hidden E-drive folder]
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
