Chapter 1
Chapter 1
“Hey, handsome. Do you think I’m beautiful?”
Beneath the murky yellow glow of a streetlamp, a slender woman with long hair spoke in a mournful voice from within the narrow alley.
Her eyes were large, framed by long lashes that lent them a seductive allure.
A mask concealed most of her face, but those eyes, paired with her fair complexion, were enough to mark her as a natural beauty.
In this day and age, she could have gone on any short-video platform, started a livestream in that mask, cooed “big brother” a few times, and raked in a tidy fortune.
As Qin Lan would put it, she had the kind of face that could sell out a masked concert and make an absolute killing.
[1-Star Physical Anomaly (Slit-Mouthed Woman)]
[Rule 1: You must answer the Slit-Mouthed Woman’s question within five seconds, or she will attack.]
[Rule 2: You must not discuss anything related to “ugliness” with the Slit-Mouthed Woman, or she will attack.]
[Rule 3: You must not stare at the Slit-Mouthed Woman’s face for more than three seconds, or she will attack.]
The Slit-Mouthed Woman’s rules were not complicated. In fact, they were downright simple. This encounter could easily be resolved without ever provoking an attack.
All he had to do was keep praising her beauty.
So, after briefly reviewing what he had learned in class, Qin Lan cleared his throat.
“Ahem… Mm…”
Then his gaze sharpened.
“Ugly bitch! No question about it — you’re pure, undiluted ugly!”
“You look like a five-hundred-year-old corpse from the Qing dynasty that was buried in a sewer and then hurled itself straight into my eyes, roaring rancid breath all over me while clawing at my retinas with five centuries’ worth of premium fungal toenails!”
The Slit-Mouthed Woman visibly froze.
She had already been prepared to hear, “You’re beautiful.” Then she would remove her mask, reveal her “peerless beauty,” and ask with a sinister grin whether he still thought she was pretty.
She had not expected him to open with a torrent of abuse.
“YOU’RE DEAD!”
She flew into a rage and ripped off her mask, revealing a bloody maw split all the way to her ears.
The sharp, jumbled fangs inside resembled a hyena’s. Reeking of blood and rot, she shrieked and lunged for Qin Lan’s throat.
Qin Lan made no attempt to dodge. If anything, he stood there brimming with anticipation.
Almost as if… he were waiting to die.
[Your neck snapped like a frozen ice pop. Killer: Slit-Mouthed Woman.]
[Save point reset.]
[Constitution permanently increased by 0.5.]
In the next instant, Qin Lan was standing in the alley once more, with the same masked Slit-Mouthed Woman before him.
“Hey, handsome. Do you think I’m beautiful?”
The same words. The same sequence of events. The only difference was that Qin Lan retained his memories from before his death.
“Damn, that bite had some force behind it.”
“They say a woman with a big mouth can eat her way through anything, but with yours, you could feast your way through sixteen directions at once.”
Still shaken, Qin Lan rubbed his neck as though the pain lingered there.
This was a world overrun by anomalies.
These evil spirits from hell had appeared without warning one day and begun slaughtering humans across Blue Star without distinction.
Over the many years that followed, the United Government was established.
The surviving humans retreated into Safe Zones, rebuilt society, and erected high walls between themselves and the anomaly-occupied Fallen Zones.
From the day the anomalies descended, humans born into the world gradually began awakening Talents of their own.
Qin Lan was a third-year high school student from Safe Zone 088.
Under the new education system, the college entrance examination had been replaced by an “instance assessment.”
Children from wealthy families could pay to be exempted, but every student without such backing had to enter a Fallen Zone and risk their life clearing a random instance. Only then could they earn permanent residency in a Safe Zone.
Qin Lan was one of those students.
His parents had died when he was young. Aside from a ramshackle house in the slums, they had left him nothing.
By all rights, Qin Lan’s life should have ended at eighteen, when he died like a stray dog in an anomaly-infested Fallen Zone and returned to nature as a clump of unidentified matter.
But everything had changed.
“After the Cataclysm, every human awakens a Talent after turning eighteen. But physiques differ from person to person, so Talents vary in strength as well…”
Qin Lan recalled what his lessons had taught him.
“Weak Talents, such as the F-rank [Keen Sense of Smell], are completely useless beyond letting you smell an anomaly a moment sooner.”
“A powerful Talent, on the other hand, can repel an anomaly — or even kill one!”
At that thought, Qin Lan glanced at the drab insignia on his school uniform.
“F-rank.”
Yes. His Talent was the lowest of the low: F-rank.
“I bet no one ever imagined a Talent could awaken twice…”
Qin Lan touched the insignia on his chest and broke into a grin.
Only one day ago, he had been the school’s worst student, saddled with its lowest-ranked Talent.
Now he possessed the power to face any anomaly without fear.
Unlimited saves. Unlimited resurrection.
—
Talent: [You’re Dead! But Not Quite…]
Effect 1: You have an exceptionally punchable face. The probability of anomalies attacking you is permanently increased by 1,000%.
Effect 2 (New): Whenever an anomaly kills you inside an instance, you will return to the save point from one minute earlier and receive a random, permanent increase to one of your attributes. (Attribute gains diminish significantly when caused by the same method of death.)
—
When Qin Lan’s Talent first awakened, it had displayed only its first effect. The people of Safe Zone 088 had hailed it as “the most spectacularly useless Talent of the century.”
No one knew what possible use a Talent that increased the chance of being attacked by anomalies could have.
After extensive debate among several experienced teachers, they reached a compelling conclusion:
The kid was screwed.
Virtually everyone believed Qin Lan would die during the instance assessment at graduation.
His greatest contribution might be drawing enemy fire away from the other students in the same instance and improving their odds of survival.
At least then his waste of a Talent could be put to some use.
But not even Qin Lan had expected that, the moment he entered a Fallen Zone and an anomaly dragged him into an instance, the voice from his Talent awakening would ring in his ears once more.
[Talent fully activated.]
[Please review the newly unlocked effect carefully.]
At first, Qin Lan thought he had imagined it.
But the information pouring into his mind felt far too real to be false.
After turning it over, Qin Lan decided that practice was the best way to test a theory.
And so, the Slit-Mouthed Woman before him became the perfect subject for verifying his Talent’s effects.
Of course, if the test failed and he died for real, all that awaited him was a grand funeral. What else could anyone do?
His Talent was already a steaming pile. What difference did dying sooner or later make?
As the saying went, desperate times called for desperate measures. If the test failed, all it meant was an early ticket to reincarnation. Maybe he would roll a high-rank Talent in his next life.
Of course, the result was a very pleasant surprise.
Exactly as the description promised, he had not only returned to one minute earlier but also gained a small attribute boost.
—
Name: Qin Lan
Race: Human
Strength: 1.1
Constitution: 1.2 > 1.7
Speed: 1.2
Spirit: 1.6
Curse Resistance: 0
Curse Amplification: 0
Special Status: None
Skills: None
—
Following his Talent’s second awakening, Qin Lan could summon his status panel before his eyes at any time.
After his resurrection just now, he had clearly felt his body grow somewhat sturdier, which he assumed was the effect of his increased Constitution.
“Constitution corresponds to how well I can take a beating, then?”
Qin Lan had a rough theory.
The status panel offered no further descriptions, so he would have to work everything out himself.
“Why aren’t you answering me?”
“Am I beautiful or not?!”
The Slit-Mouthed Woman was growing angry. Her voice sharpened, and the huge mouth beneath her mask twitched as though she might attack at any moment.
Qin Lan picked at his ear and glared.
“I said you’re so ugly you make me sick! Are you deaf, too?”
No woman in the world could accept being called ugly by a man.
The Slit-Mouthed Woman was no exception.
[Your head burst like a watermelon. Killer: Slit-Mouthed Woman.]
[Constitution permanently increased by 0.1.]
After resurrecting again, Qin Lan discovered to his disappointment that the returns had diminished much more sharply than expected.
It seemed his plan to grind attributes by repeatedly courting death would have to be shelved for now.
“Attribute gains decrease when they come from the same anomaly… and they also decrease when they come from the same method of death…”
“In other words, I need to find as many anomalies as possible and get creative about letting them kill me?”
“Is this thing screwing with me?”
Qin Lan’s balls hurt just thinking about it.
“Hey, handsome, do–”
The Slit-Mouthed Woman spoke for the third time.
Before she could finish, Qin Lan cut her off with an impatient, perfunctory answer.
“Yeah, yeah, you’re beautiful. The most beautiful girl I’ve ever seen. Happy now?”
The Slit-Mouthed Woman paused. Then she tore off her mask, exposing her grotesque maw, and let out a sinister giggle.
“Then–”
“What about now?”
“Am I still beautiful like this?!”
Anyone unprepared for the sight would have been startled, perhaps badly enough to forget to answer or to stare at her face for more than three seconds.
Either mistake would trigger an attack and condemn them to a bitter death.
But Qin Lan had already seen that ugly face several times. He was more or less numb to it.
“Mm-hmm, sure. You’re the prettiest woman in the whole world.”
“Anything else? If not, move. I’m busy.”
Qin Lan waved her away as if shooing a fly.
The Slit-Mouthed Woman stood rooted to the spot, her stinking maw hanging stiffly open. The sight was almost comical.
All of a sudden, she had the strange impression that she was some unlucky woman who had just gotten her hair done, asked her boyfriend what he thought, received a perfunctory answer, and then been scolded with, “I’m busy. Stop making a fuss.”
“Wait… You could at least look at me.”
“I’m terrifying like this! How could I possibly be beautiful?”
The Slit-Mouthed Woman began to panic and tried to draw Qin Lan’s attention back to her.
Qin Lan merely glanced over and uttered a line countless women knew all too well.
“Well, if that’s how you insist on seeing it, there’s nothing I can do.”
“I already told you that you look fine. What do you gain from being so unreasonable?”
For good measure, he added, “I can’t stand girls who don’t know how to behave.”
Silence became the bridge over the River Cam tonight.
“Sob… How could you treat me like this…”
Heartbroken weeping echoed through the frigid alley.
Qin Lan strode out, callously ignoring the Slit-Mouthed Woman as she crouched in a corner and sobbed under her breath. He looked up and down the street.
“There should be more than one anomaly in this instance, right?”
“Where are the others hiding?”