Chapter 26: If the Past Self Had Been a Good Student

Staring at the three options before him, Feng Xue glanced at his inventory, gritted his teeth, and selected Scissors.

Last time, choosing Rock had been the "most common" option, which had resulted in him becoming one of the "majority"—a civilian. This time, he decided to pick the winning choice among the remaining two, hoping it would lead to becoming a hero.

Based on previous experience, the civilian's objective was to survive until the monster was defeated. The monster's goal was likely to eliminate or capture all civilians before being defeated by the hero. Meanwhile, the hero's task was to vanquish the monster before too many civilians were killed. It was even possible that the number of civilian casualties factored into the final mission evaluation.

Feng Xue had envisioned a perfect outcome, but reality slapped him hard across the face—

[Emergency Operation: Hero's Game]

[Survive until the hero defeats the monster.]

"…"

He didn't even have the energy to curse this time. Fortunately, he had prepared for contingencies. With a flick of his wrist, the Tabloid Newspaper materialized in his hand. He quickly poked a hole through it, sat down, and only then did he feel the gust of wind rush past him.

Peering through the hole, he saw the monster's tentacles mere inches from his face.

"Good thing I didn't hesitate."

Feng Xue let out a long sigh of relief. Observing the other "civilian" players, he noticed that running in circles seemed to be a viable strategy. However, since he had no idea where the invisible walls began and ended, the risk of getting cornered was too high—a split-second misstep could mean the difference between life and death.

As the hero finally gained the upper hand against the monster, Feng Xue remained seated, maintaining the illusion of casually reading a newspaper. Meanwhile, his left hand subtly shifted his position, moving ever so slightly.

It wasn't the most efficient movement, but it worked. More importantly, this minor adjustment didn't break the Tabloid Newspaper's invisibility effect.

"It's viable. As long as I maintain the conditions of 'reading the paper' and 'staying seated,' the artifact remains active. Movement doesn't disrupt it."

With that realization, Feng Xue felt reassured. This newspaper was essentially his ticket to escape. Now, he just needed to figure out how to cash it in.

He wasn't particularly worried about having only one copy. After all, it was just a white-tier item. If the Seven Wolves Belthad already appeared in the shop once, odds were good that he'd come across this one again.

As he contemplated his next steps, the hero finally subdued the monster. The scene shifted back to a group of children playing in the orphanage's backyard. The "hero" let go of the "monster," cheerfully helping him up.

The children laughed together, their playfulness unbroken.

And just like that, the node ended.

[Mission Complete: Flawless Tactics]

[Node Settlement: +3 Illusory Dream]

[Loot Extraction in Progress…]

[No rewards for this operation.]

"I… you've got to be kidding me!"

A string of expletives—ones that would undoubtedly be censored in text—rattled in Feng Xue's mind. He stared at those cursed words, "No rewards," feeling his blood pressure spike to new heights.

The node had shifted from Unexpected Encounter to Emergency, and he had still completed it with a "Flawless Tactics" rating. And yet… nothing?!

He glanced down at his inventory. While the newspaper was still there, the hole he had punched through it remained. Clearly, it was no longer usable.

So he had essentially sacrificed a premium-tier item… for absolutely nothing.

No—scratch that. That damn Haunted Photograph had still drained 1 point of his sanity!

The only silver lining was that the shop was about to refresh, but with zero Echo Points at his disposal, he wouldn't be able to afford any permanent skills.

With a resigned sigh, he mentally selected the Interwoven Dreams node.

As the standard introduction played out, the black-haired girl in her elegant kimono appeared once again.

This time, however, her expression was normal.

"So last time's abnormality was due to low sanity?"

Feng Xue pondered this as he scanned the available items in the shop. There were eight in total—two skill unlock vouchers: Fine Arts and Literature. The other six were artifacts, four white and two blue, all of which were hidden in shadow, indicating that he hadn't encountered them before.

Now, it was time to strategize.

He had 17 Illusory Dream Points to spend. His options were:

• Two white-tier artifacts

• One white-tier artifact + two skill unlock vouchers

• One blue-tier artifact

The first thing he did was rule out the blue-tier artifact. While they were technically "higher value," none of the blue items he had encountered so far had particularly outstanding abilities. Clever Bird had been useful for mapping the prison, but compared to acquiring two white-tier artifacts, a single blue artifact simply wasn't worth the cost.

That left the choice between skills and artifacts.

The advantage of skills was their permanence—they wouldn't disappear once he exited the roguelike cycle. However, they had significant limitations:

1. They only unlocked knowledge his past self had already mastered.

2. Their effectiveness was dictated by Echo Points, which he currently had none of. That meant even if he unlocked a skill, it would only be at a beginner level.

Given the choices—Fine Arts and Literature—they could be useful if he had the right tools, but otherwise, they were dead weight.

Still, as a famous writer once said, people tend to prefer compromises.

Feng Xue was no exception.

After much internal debate, he decided to purchase one white-tier artifact and two skill unlock vouchers.

To avoid getting an artifact that boosted Echo Points—which would be useless without the currency—he made it a habit to buy the artifact first.

…

And the moment he saw what appeared before him, he felt as though his real body—if he had one—would have been left slack-jawed.

A beautiful revolver lay before him.

It resembled a full-sized Colt Python, its gunmetal frame entwined with thorn-like engravings and unreadable runes. The walnut grip featured intricate carvings of two half-woman, half-skeleton figures, their artistry mesmerizing. Scattered nearby was a small pouch of brass-glinting bullets.

There was no doubt—this was a weapon that would captivate any man's soul.

And yet… it was merely white-tier.

Name: Fate's Trigger

Category: Weapon of Struggle

Quality: White (Common)

Effect: Increases ranged damage dealt by 25%, but every sixth shot is guaranteed to miss.

Note: Someone once tried to play Russian Roulette with this gun—only to discover that even "a guaranteed miss on the sixth shot" wasn't foolproof.

…

A ranged damage buff wasn't particularly surprising.

The "sixth shot always missing" wasn't even that bad of a drawback. Overall, it was a decent artifact—nothing game-breaking, but certainly not a bad trade-off.

What did intrigue Feng Xue was how the curse would manifest in the real world.

What counted as a ranged attack?

Did spitting count? Throwing a rock? What about a basketball that accidentally hit someone?

After mulling it over for a bit, he decided it wasn't worth overthinking. If he had no way to test it now, then speculation was pointless.

Better to finish his purchases and move on.

Unlocking Literature revealed no surprises—his past self's literary skills were abysmal. The only thing he had at a professional level was foreign languages, specifically Hongying, Shinra, and Xinghuan—three major nations' tongues.

A professional-grade foreign language skill was valuable, but at an entry level, it was practically worthless.

After careful thought, he chose Calligraphy.

Not for any grand reason—just simple curiosity.

Would Qingyun's written language be different from Chinese?

After all, just because he understood the guards' spoken words didn't necessarily mean they shared the same written script.

And as for the books in his golden finger…

Well, if this really was a cheat ability, who's to say they weren't all translated?

Better to prepare now than realize too late that he was illiterate.