Chapter 13: The Increasingly Justifiable Crimes of My Former Self

Having finally managed to suppress his urge to criticize, Feng Xue began to reassess the information gleaned from the settlement—

"First off, the fact that the drop was a Gundam model proves that items aren't necessarily related to the specific challenges. Also, it appears that the dreams awarded decrease with the lowering of difficulty."

"Then there's this model… Based on its effects, it seems akin to items like 'Knightly Vows' or 'Coin-operated Toys.' But since dreams reset after using the gold finger, either this item is meant to be used exclusively within the system, useless in reality; or perhaps there's a mechanism within the gold finger or one that might be unlocked later that allows for carrying over some dreams into the next session."

With his thoughts organized on this matter, Feng Xue grew curious about the practical application of the so-called attack speed increase in such a battle-realistic gold finger setting.

Does it merely increase the speed of his movements, or does it enhance all aspects of speed? Does it boost muscle power and reflexes, or does it use a kind of external authority like time or rule manipulation to accelerate actions? If it's the former, does the body receive corresponding enhancements?

As these thoughts circled in his mind, Feng Xue suddenly laughed. Why overthink it? Just entering a combat node would provide all the answers.

Exiting the settlement screen, Feng Xue's consciousness returned to the main interface. As the node for "Orphan of the Snowy Night" dimmed, the next two nodes revealed their true nature.

"One is an emergency operation, and the other is an unexpected encounter… If I don't tackle emergencies early on, they'll just stack up later. Unless I start retreating upon seeing them, I'll have to face them eventually!"

Now understanding the once-per-day refresh mechanic of the gold finger, and accepting that infinite grinding wasn't an option, Feng Xue resolved to focus on the emergency operation.

"Survival or death, that is the question."

"Is it the same prompt as 'Orphan of the Snowy Night'?" he mused as the node expanded and his vision completely darkened, with four words crisply appearing in the midst of the blackness—

"Fireplace Herculean Strength."

At the sight of these words, Feng Xue's first thought was of the skill in Monster Hunter World that increases attack power when in critical condition—a favorite among speedrunners.

But before he could contemplate further, the loading was complete, and he was immediately overwhelmed by a strong sensation of heat.

The crackling sounds and cries of children echoed around him as the smoke choked him, prompting Feng Xue to instinctively cough and cover his mouth and nose with his sleeve before surveying his surroundings.

He was in a fairly large room, and the faint sense of familiarity made him recall the "Future Choices" and "Unexpected Encounters" nodes. Although it wasn't the same room, the decor and style were undeniably from the same designer.

"Is this an office in the orphanage that's caught fire?"

Feng Xue quickly made his judgment, his expression turning grim.

Scanning the room for anything useful but finding not even a water jug, he hurried to the window. The view, however, brought him frustration as the orphanage had installed security bars on every window to prevent accidents caused by mischievous children, which now acted as barriers to his escape.

Looking towards the door, which wasn't locked but blocked by thick smoke, Feng Xue knew it wasn't a viable exit.

He also knew that the longer he stayed in a fire, the slimmer his chances of survival.

"Should I wait for firefighters to rescue me?"

"Survival or death, that is the question?" Repeating the gold finger's earlier prompt, Feng Xue clenched his teeth, deciding not to blindly charge through, not because he was leaving it to fate, but because he remembered how he survived the "Orphan of the Snowy Night."

By relying on himself.

By constructing!

And now, he was determined to try again!

The half-day of meditative practice had not been in vain. As Feng Xue focused, it seemed as if a droplet of water had formed in his mind.

At that moment, Feng Xue felt a peculiar force radiating outwards from within him, as if he had become a supreme being, mastering everything under this domain's cover.

The term "G·I Field" immediately came to mind.

"Is this the field created by the resonance between my own G·I particles and the external world?" Feng Xue pondered various ideas, but none lasted long because his survival was the immediate priority.

"Water!"

Under the cover of the G·I field, droplets of water began to condense out of thin air, quickly turning into a light drizzle.

The rain quickly soaked through Feng Xue's clothes, and though he didn't yet feel fatigue, having learned from the Orphan of the Snowy Night scenario, he knew he couldn't maintain the construction for long.

Imagining the raindrops falling, Feng Xue stepped into the inferno. The water trails behind him vanished the moment they left the G·I field, but the falling rain around him continuously absorbed the heat from the fire.

With steam rising around him and the rain not ceasing, a sense of fatigue began to creep in, but a thought unrelated to the immediate danger emerged in Feng Xue's mind—

"I didn't specifically endow the water with 'heat absorption evaporation' properties, so why does the water I conjured exhibit the same physical properties as real liquid?"

However, within the fiery chaos, Feng Xue had no time to ponder this further. With his short legs pumping furiously, it took only a few minutes for him to reach the ground floor. He could still hear children crying, but his dizzy, overwhelmed state left him no capacity to help others. Dragging his exhausted body, he burst out of the building.

As he emerged from the fire, the colorful world instantly turned to grayscale, the movements of a teacher rushing towards him freezing in mid-air, then the entire world shattered like a broken mirror. When Feng Xue regained his senses, the node had collapsed back into a gray square.

And in front of him, the settlement panel appeared—

"Operation ended, successful survival."

"Node settlement: Dreams +3."

"Item drop in progress…"

"You have obtained a Comprehensive Science Unlock Ticket."

"This time no relics dropped, but an unlock ticket did?" Feng Xue glanced at the words "successful survival," his gaze shifting slightly upwards to notice his sanity points had dropped by 2.

"Maybe it's the shock from the fire, or possibly because I didn't save the other children in the fire? I recall in the Call of Cthulhu rules that failing to help can also reduce sanity points?"

Contemplating this, Feng Xue opened the so-called "Comprehensive Science Unlock Ticket."

A shelf filled with various books unfolded before him, categorizing natural science skills into medicine, engineering, agriculture, and law.

Still at the top was the 12-relic value "Anatomy," but now several new 12-relic skills had been added.

"Explosives Science," "Ballistics," "Metallurgical Engineering," "Human Ergonomics," "Human Mechanics"…

While each appeared as a normal specialty when considered individually, the grouping of these master-level skills somehow felt sinister…

"What if I increasingly feel that my predecessor deserved his punishment?"