Chapter 13: F-Level Ability

July 8th, 2023

After the police were called, they quickly arrived at the scene. However, due to the narrow lanes of San Cun at the end of the alley, the police car couldn’t enter, so the police had to walk the criminals out of the village.

Previously, Lin Xuan had been followed, and she hadn’t seen a single person on the way. But now, there were people everywhere, bustling like it was a festival.

Could this be the world’s deep malice towards someone with a -99 luck value?

Lin Xuan sighed silently.

“What’s wrong?” Chen Chu heard the girl sigh and turned to look at her.

“I got lost in the village before, and I didn’t encounter a single person.” Although she knew she had bad luck, Lin Xuan couldn’t help but feel aggrieved.

“If you had encountered people, you wouldn’t have gotten lost.”

“You make a good point.”

Chen Chu chuckled and didn’t say anything else. He continued to walk with the police. They had to go to the police station to make a statement before they could go home.

“It’s Yellow Hair and Baldy. Knew these two would get into trouble sooner or later.”

“It’s good that they’re caught. It’ll be much more peaceful around here.”

“Who says otherwise? Always idling around, so annoying to look at.”

People around them discussed, giving a sense of satisfaction.

Qi Anlian had just finished taking a shower when she heard commotion outside. She put on a coat and walked out, immediately seeing Lin Xuan following behind the police. She was puzzled, but then she heard people nearby talking.

“What did Yellow Hair and Baldy do?” someone asked.

“It seems like it was attempted rape. Look at the little girl next to the police. It’s said that she was almost violated by those two scumbags.”

“I heard about it too. Those two scumbags cornered the girl in the dead-end alley at the west end of the village. If her boyfriend hadn’t shown up in time, the consequences would have been unimaginable.”

“They dared to do something like this. They’re beasts. I wonder if they’ve harmed other girls before.”

…

With each word Qi Anlian heard, the color drained from her face. She looked at Lin Xuan with an extremely complex expression.

So, what the girl said was true. If she hadn’t gone home with her that day, would she have been the one to encounter these things?

Qi Anlian suddenly felt an impulse to go up and say thank you to Lin Xuan. But by the time she pushed through the crowd, Lin Xuan had already gotten into the police car and left.

The two criminals were apprehended on the spot, and the case was not complicated. However, the two of them were kept busy at the police station until almost eleven o’clock before it was all over.

“Alright, once you’ve signed, you can go,” the police officer handed the statement to the two for verification.

Lin Xuan took a glance and confirmed that everything was fine. She quickly signed her own name and then passed the pen to Chen Chu.

Chen Chu took it and also signed his name.

Chen Chu? In the moment Lin Xuan saw Chen Chu’s signature, she froze. Was he Chen Chu, the senior who subdued the thugs at the hospital? No wonder he seemed familiar. It turned out to be him.

“What’s wrong?” Chen Chu finished signing and turned around to see the girl looking at him with a strange expression.

“No, nothing.”

“I’m done signing.” Chen Chu returned the pen and paper to the police officer. After the officer verified everything, he signaled for the two to leave.

As they walked out of the police station, there was no one around. Suddenly, Lin Xuan bowed deeply to Chen Chu, almost ninety degrees. “Senior Chen Chu, I’m truly grateful for your great kindness.”

Chen Chu was startled by Lin Xuan’s sincere gesture and furrowed his brows. “Senior? Which school are you from?”

“Lu Ye University,” Lin Xuan replied.

“Do you know that I’m studying for a master’s degree at Lu Ye University?” He didn’t do his undergraduate studies at Lu Ye University, and even though he was currently pursuing his master’s there, he rarely went to the campus. It was possible that even the senior brothers under the same advisor didn’t recognize him.

How could Lin Xuan know him? No, Lin Xuan didn’t know him. It was evident from her reaction when she saw him on the television. If she knew him, she would have called him “senior” back then. It must have been because she saw his signature just now. So, Lin Xuan didn’t know him, but she knew of him.

“My best friend works for a news agency, and she interviewed you. By the way, we also met at the hospital before. That day, you subdued a thug with a knife who was attacking people at the hospital. Remember? I was there too.” Lin Xuan didn’t mention that she was the one who had discovered the thug. She was afraid that Chen Chu wouldn’t remember her.

“News agency?” Chen Chu remembered. A few months ago, he had a paper published, and indeed, someone from the school’s news agency wanted to interview him. He found it troublesome and declined. So, that journalist was Lin Xuan’s best friend. No wonder he felt the voice was somewhat familiar at the convenience store that day. The journalist was persistent, calling him dozens of times, and he had to turn off his phone to finally get some peace and quiet.

“I remember. You were the one who discovered the thug,” Chen Chu said.

Lin Xuan’s eyes lit up. “You remember me?”

“Mhm.” Chen Chu glanced at the red highlights in the girl’s hair. After all, it was quite rare to see a bald girl.

Lin Xuan suddenly felt very happy.

“Since you’re a student, why were you in the urban village so late at night?” Chen Chu asked.

“I have a part-time job in a park north of the urban village. I was passing through the village to catch a bus,” Lin Xuan explained.

“What kind of part-time job keeps you out so late?”

“It’s an escape room. I work as an NPC inside. Today, a group of players arrived late, so I left a bit later too,” Lin Xuan explained.

An escape room? As far as he knew, there was only one escape room in that area, and he happened to have been there.

Suddenly, Chen Chu remembered the energy fluctuations he felt from the coffin that day and the female NPC whose throat he had grabbed. So, he hadn’t misjudged it back then. The energy was indeed emanating from that female NPC, the girl in front of him.

“You played the role of a female ghost in there?” Chen Chu asked.

“Yes,” Lin Xuan nodded. “Do you want to come and play? I can get you a discount from the boss.”

Chen Chu smiled and didn’t answer. Instead, he continued to ask, “That area is quite remote. Next time, don’t work there until so late. If there’s no other choice, you should take a taxi back.”

“Actually, our boss gives me money for a taxi,” Lin Xuan said.

“Then why…” Chen Chu was surprised.

“To save money,” Lin Xuan said with some embarrassment. “Taking a taxi from the park back to the school costs around 40 to 50 yuan, but taking the bus only costs 2 yuan.”

Chen Chu looked at the two raised fingers on the girl’s hand and was momentarily speechless. “Are you in need of money?”

Just a few days ago, hadn’t he compensated her with a thousand yuan? How did she manage to spend it so quickly?

“Yeah. I got hit by a car a while ago, and all the money I had went toward medical expenses. The new phone I bought also got damaged in the accident. The one I have now is an old-style phone I bought for 500 yuan half a month ago. I thought an old-style phone would just be a bit slower and laggy, but who knew this piece of junk would run out of battery and shut down all the time? It’s driving me crazy. And I’m about to graduate soon, still haven’t found a job, and don’t have a place to live. So, I’m just trying to save a bit wherever I can,” Lin Xuan couldn’t help but vent about all the things she had been through recently.

Car accident → Hospitalization → Bald head → Encounter with the thug → Discharged from the hospital → Encounter with the criminal… a series of unfortunate events.

“You’ve really had a stroke of bad luck,” Chen Chu couldn’t help but sigh.

“Ah, well, as long as I didn’t die, it’s fine,” Lin Xuan had already adopted a positive outlook.

Her mentality was pretty good.

Unbeknownst to them, they had already arrived at the intersection. A car approached from a distance, and Chen Chu waved his hand. The car stopped beside them.

Chen Chu opened the door and gestured for Lin Xuan to get in. “Get in the car.”

“Is this the car you called?” Lin Xuan asked.

Chen Chu nodded.

Lin Xuan’s phone was out of battery, and she couldn’t order a ride herself, so she had to cheekily hitch a ride. However, when she got into the car, Chen Chu didn’t join her.

“The driver will take you back to your school,” Chen Chu closed the car door and said to the driver, “Take it slow on the road.”

“Sure thing,” the driver replied, and stepped on the accelerator, driving the car away.

Lin Xuan exclaimed, “Hey!” as she leaned against the window, wanting to say something, but the car had already gone far. She could only watch the tall figure of the young man getting farther and farther away, eventually disappearing into the night.

She forgot to ask for his phone number, and she didn’t know if she would have another chance to meet him in the future. At the very least, she should repay him for the ride.

【Xuan Xuan, you can crawl out of the TV】a sudden system prompt appeared abruptly, resembling a barrage comment.

“Are you Sadako?” This definitely couldn’t be the tone of the system.

【It’s me! Are you going to find him? Bring out my hair.】

What did it mean to bring out her hair? It sounded creepy, didn’t it?

Lin Xuan was frightened, and chicken skin bumps appeared all over her body. “System, system, Sadako is still alive? No, Sadako is talking to me.”

Although she accepted the existence of the system and accepted the fact that Sadako’s long hair could crawl out of the TV, she was still afraid of ghosts.

“This isn’t Sadako, it’s Sadako’s thoughts attached to the long hair. The host doesn’t need to mind. Once she depletes the merit points she has earned, she won’t be able to speak anymore,” the system explained.

So it was still a paid barrage comment.

【System, you’re so naughty】Sadako’s barrage comment appeared again.

“You have one last sentence,” the system calculated Sadako’s merit points.

【Xuan Xuan, when you meet a handsome guy, remember to drag him into the TV】

Within the seductive wavy lines was Lin Xuan’s collapsing moral compass. She never expected that Sadako would be this kind of ghost!

“So, props can also speak?” Lin Xuan asked.

“Only certain rare props can speak, and speaking requires consuming corresponding merit points,” the system said.

“By the way, how is it possible for props to earn merit points?” Lin Xuan was curious.

“Only props with independent will can earn merit points. For example, previously, the host wanted to activate the secondary attribute of a prop in advance, which required fulfilling two conditions. First, paying the corresponding merit points, and second, the agreement of the prop’s will. Once these two conditions are met, the transaction can take place. The merit points obtained from this are split evenly between the system and the prop.”

Lin Xuan understood, “So the merit points that Sadako earned by speaking just now came from me?”

“That’s correct,” the system confirmed.

“I can’t believe you even split the merit points with the props. I never expected that,” Lin Xuan was greatly surprised. The system’s online store was the most dubious store she had ever seen.

“This system is fair, just, trustworthy, and friendly. It would never withhold a single merit point from its cooperative partners,” the system stated.

“Yes, yes, and then you created a paid barrage, earning back all the merit points in just five sentences,” Lin Xuan saw through it and exposed it.

The system remained silent.

Lin Xuan sneered. She had long seen through your black heart. Why didn’t you make a move with your black heart when you set the divination for Gua Jin? If you had made even the slightest move, I wouldn’t be so broke.

In the fast-moving night, the car stopped at the entrance of Lu Ye University after about ten minutes. It was only when Lin Xuan returned to school that she suddenly remembered something. The fact that she could crawl out of the TV and her encounter with Chen Chu seemed to be selectively forgotten by both of them.

On the other side, Chen Chu returned home and as soon as he entered, he saw an unexpected guest sitting on his own sofa, watching TV.

“Chu, you’re back! Show me, did the female ghost drain all your vitality?” Xie Xingyu saw Chen Chu and rushed over like a gust of wind.

“I’ve told you many times, don’t casually come into my house,” Chen Chu pushed the person away in disgust.

“And where’s the female ghost?” Xie Xingyu looked at Chen Chu, especially at his neck, which was clear and white, without a trace.

“I sent her back.”

“Really, there was a female ghost, or was it just a hoax?” He was drinking at the bar when he heard Chen Chu say that a female ghost had come to their house. Excited, he immediately drove over. He thought that any female ghost with such courage to pounce on Chen Chu’s house must be worth getting to know. But it turned out to be a wild goose chase.

Chen Chu fetched a bottle of water for himself and asked, “Is the bureau still recruiting people lately?”

“Why? Are you recommending someone?” Xie Xingyu was curious.

“There’s a newly awakened female college student.”

“A female college student?!” Xie Xingyu only paid attention to the last four words.

“Just awakened, let’s call her F-level for now, her energy is unstable,” Chen Chu evaluated Lin Xuan’s ability.

“A trash player? The bureau won’t want her,” Xie Xingyu shook his head as he listened.

“Her ability is quite interesting, and… she’s very poor,” Chen Chu thought of the girl who went through all of this just to save 50 yuan for a taxi. It was both sad and funny.

“Are you worried that she might cause trouble with her abilities because she’s poor?” Xie Xingyu didn’t think much of it. “What can an F-level do?”

“Her ability… if she steals things, it’s very convenient,” Chen Chu had a good impression of Lin Xuan and didn’t think she would actually steal things, but to be honest, her ability to steal things was indeed very convenient.

“What ability?” Xie Xingyu was curious.

Chen Chu looked at the TV. “She can crawl out of the TV.”

“Oh, damn it, Sadako.” She really is a female ghost.

Author’s Note:

Chen Chu: Luckily, my house has a passcode lock, or else the door would have advanced.

Lin Xuan: I don’t steal things, I only steal… (guess what)