Chapter 130 - 120: Taking Stock of the Gains

After an uneventful night, Yin Zhen arrived at the airport early the next morning to catch a flight to Sea City.

Lucy had to stay behind to look after the house. She mentioned that many materials in Ancient Abyss were different from those in Chi Hai, and she still had a lot of unfinished research to do.

At the airport, Yin Zhen unexpectedly spotted the girl whose body Zoe had borrowed.

She was pulling a suitcase, with the camera Zoe had picked out hanging around her neck. The bright smile on her face and the look of anticipation for the future in her eyes made Yin Zhen zone out for a moment, as if she were seeing Zoe again.

BEEP BEEP! BEEP BEEP!

Zoe noticed the girl too and rolled around happily inside, sending a flurry of little heart bubbles floating up from the egg.

Boarding the plane, Yin Zhen took a window seat. The phone in her pocket buzzed frantically—it was a call from Bai Qiang. As soon as Yin Zhen answered, she immediately held the phone away from her ear.

"You ungrateful bastard! A whole night has passed, and you didn’t even think to bring a box of yogurt to my house to thank me?"

Bai Qiang’s voice was so loud that the earpiece couldn’t muffle it, causing the people around Yin Zhen to look over.

Yin Zhen shifted slightly in embarrassment, turned down the volume, and replied, "If you want to drink yogurt, I can call a courier for you right now."

"Is this about the yogurt?!"

"How about some fruit, too?"

"..."

Bai Qiang was speechless for a long time on the other end of the line. She inhaled sharply a few times, swallowing the words that came to her lips, before finally softening her tone.

"Where are you now?"

"On a plane to Sea City. I’ll be back tomorrow afternoon. It just so happens I have something to tell you, too. I’ll come find you at your place then."

"Alright, I’ll wait for you at home tomorrow. My address is—"

"I know."

"How do you know where I live?"

Yin Zhen’s expression remained unchanged. "I looked it up."

Bai Qiang didn’t suspect a thing. She always believed that Yin Zhen had acquired the Extraordinary Ability of the Black Domain Walker, giving her hacker skills. It wouldn’t be hard for her to find an address.

Hanging up the phone, Yin Zhen turned it off, closed her eyes to rest, and silently took stock of her recent gains.

She had been so tired last night that she had gone straight to bed, managing to get a rare good night’s sleep.

Her rewards this time included: 200,000 words, 50 attribute points, Exclusive Title: Disobedient Cannon Fodder, Special Item: World’s Last Will, 3 Golden Items, 1 Luminous Prop, and Talent Plus One.

There was also an exclusive privilege. This privilege was exactly what she planned to discuss with Bai Qiang tomorrow. Before the next round of the invasion game officially started, she could log in early to experience it and figure out the specific type of the upcoming world.

However, this early login came with severe restrictions. The Player would be confined to a small area, essentially a mini-instance. The time limit was three days, and she had to complete a mission to receive a reward. This reward would give her a certain advantage when the next round of the game officially began, increasing her survival rate.

While she was there, time in Ancient Abyss would remain frozen, but dying in the instance still meant true death.

Beyond that, there was another limitation. The system stated that early login was under a guest Identity. Therefore, aside from their own innate abilities, the Player could only bring three Items. Everything else would be sealed, and they would no longer enjoy the Character aura Effect.

During the official game, the Character aura Effect would return to normal, and the abilities of Items and the Character Card would no longer be restricted. The specifics would only be provided in a more detailed Explanation once the official game started.

Yin Zhen could invite one Player to accompany her. Entering as a duo would increase the difficulty, but it would also enhance the rewards. Considering that Bai Qiang had lost her protagonist aura because she helped save Zoe, Yin Zhen decided to invite her along. They could strive to complete the mission and claim the reward, helping Bai Qiang survive better in the next world.

Otherwise, if Bai Qiang were targeted by the system, she would inevitably be plunged into a deadly crisis right at the start of the next world, and Yin Zhen couldn’t guarantee she would spawn near Bai Qiang immediately upon entering.

She also planned to give Bai Qiang half of her 50 attribute points. It was what she owed her.

Next was the exclusive title, "Disobedient Cannon Fodder."

[Disobedient Cannon Fodder]: Passively triggered. When you enter a near-death state, it automatically activates the "Shelter of the Disobedient Protagonist," granting immunity to all damage for the next 3 seconds and restoring 30% of your maximum Life Value. Upon activation, a very faint phantom of golden water ripples will surface around you, as if someone is gently embracing you from behind. Cooldown: 72 hours.

[Special Explanation]: This title was selected from numerous nominations, including "The System Wants You Dead," "Stubborn Mule Defying Fate," and "Can You Stick to the Script for Once." They said you are the hardest to manage and the hardest to kill cannon fodder they have ever overseen. Not only are you disobedient yourself, but you also make others disobedient. In the end, "Disobedient Cannon Fodder" won with the highest number of votes.

Yin Zhen couldn’t care less about the system’s complaints. If "They" were indeed the bettors behind the scenes, the more disobedient she was, the more attention she would attract, making it harder for her to die.

She continued to check her other rewards.

The 3 Golden Items were a Save Card that could be used three times, an Item Refining Book, and... a Monthly Ticket.

The Save Card was self-explanatory. She could save her progress in advance and load the save when encountering an unsolvable crisis, returning to the exact moment she had saved. Three uses equated to three lives. The restriction was that the saved timeframe could not exceed 24 hours.

The Item Refining Book could refine one of the Items in her possession once, enhancing the Item’s Effect. This was more suited for Items that could be used repeatedly. The Auditor’s Work Certificate and the Residual Sound Blade were special Items and could not be refined.

Yin Zhen was still hesitating over whether to refine the Clapperboard, which could restrict enemies, or the Universal Key, which could help her escape lockdowns.

One was for offense, and the other for survival.

When the author is motivated, the plot progresses.

[Instructions for Use]: By casting this Monthly Ticket for yourself, you can reduce the cooldown of a current title, Talent, or Item by 24 hours. A maximum of 3 tickets can be used within a 24-hour period, and they can be stacked on the same Skill or Item. You will receive 1 Monthly Ticket for every 5,000 words consumed. Current remaining Monthly Tickets: 1.

When Yin Zhen saw this Item, she highly suspected that the person behind the system was a web novel author who used whatever they saw as material. Were they just making this up on the spot?

[Half a Book]: A Luminous Prop, a mysterious book that has had half of its pages torn out, leaving only 5 yellowed, old sheets inside. (Why such a simple name? Because the author ran out of words, couldn’t come up with anything else, and decided to just make do with it).

[Instructions for Use]: Place your hand on a blank page and recall a specific ability or Item you have seen. The page will then trace and copy it. Afterward, by consuming word count, you can reproduce this ability.

Reproduction is divided into three tiers:

-Shorthand-: Consume the corresponding word count to temporarily reproduce the Effect of this ability or Item once. Cooldown after each use: 3 minutes.

-Intensive Reading-: Consume triple the word count to possess this ability or Item for the next 24 hours. During this period, the page is sealed and cannot copy a new ability or Item.

-Publication-: Consume ten times the word count to completely reproduce this ability or Item and retain it permanently. After using this Effect, the current page will permanently disappear.

Yin Zhen’s favorite was this Half a Book. It was highly practical and extremely flexible. She intended to figure out the situation in the next world before deciding whether to use this half a Skill Book to permanently reproduce the Blood Source Resonance onto her Player body.

She now had 200,000 words. Surely that would be enough to permanently reproduce an ability at least once.

As for the new Talent added by upgrading to a Silver Card, Yin Zhen wasn’t in a hurry to draw it either. Based on her understanding of the system, it would be best to wait until she entered the experience instance. That way, a Talent more suited to that world was likely to appear.

Moreover, she wasn’t guaranteed to keep her Silver Card Identity. If she consumed too many words later on and her word count dropped below 100,000, she would revert to a Copper Card, and this Talent would disappear along with it.

Last but not least, Special Item: World’s Last Will.

After using her spiritual power to shield herself from the surrounding people, Yin Zhen opened her hand. A thick, heavy book landed silently on her palm.

The cover material resembled bone—a dull, crimson red that felt finely granular to the touch. Embedded perfectly in the center of the cover were two dark gold characters: Chi Hai.

The system didn’t provide any description for it. It was like a real book, recording the original story of Chi Hai.

Yin Zhen opened it. There was only one sentence on the title page, written in the script of the Red Corpse World. The strokes were sharp, like the thorns of brambles, yet curved like laurel branches. The sentence meant:

*An unyielding will is the true source of life.*

She turned to the table of contents. The Chapter titles were arranged neatly, like inscriptions on a row of tombstones. The stories and the people of a world were forever preserved here.

As the plane taxied and took off, vast swaths of scenery outside the window retreated rapidly. Yin Zhen opened the first Chapter, titled "Rebirth."

The Pet Machine hanging around her neck swayed slightly. Little Zoe was also awaiting another rebirth.

One world had ended, and another lay straight ahead.