Chapter 42 - 39: Secretly Learning

Chapter 42: Chapter 39: Secretly Learning

Going out to hunt invaders at this time would be equivalent to exposing her Identity as a Player. She could indeed take the opportunity to join Nan Jiamu’s protagonist group and then look for a chance to kill her. But she was unwilling! She couldn’t bring herself to put on a pleasant face for her enemy and help her enemy get things done.

Yin Zhen practiced walking at home. She only stopped when she could truly walk no further, sitting on the sofa to practice blood silk and Shadow Manipulation with her spiritual power. After equipping Character Cards multiple times, her craving for ordinary food was almost zero, but her stomach still cramped from hunger. Only when Yin Zhen was too hungry to ignore her stomach did she cook some plain noodles to fill her belly and tidy up her messy home. During this time, she also received a courtesy call from a community worker who offered to visit, but she coldly and firmly refused.

The sky gradually darkened. Sounds echoed in the stairwell as people coming off work returned to their homes one after another. Upstairs remained very quiet. The little girl’s family had probably already been killed by her; it was just that no one had discovered it yet.

Yin Zhen held her laptop, took out the Item: Fake Certificate, and wrote down a name on it: Ding Yi!

The system gave a "DING," but remained silent for a long time, unable to spit out a single complaint. Words consumed: 300. Remaining: 10,733.

The Fake Certificate gradually transformed into a real ID card, complete with a name, an ID number, and a photo of an unremarkable male face. Holding this ID card, Yin Zhen felt that if she presented it to anyone other than a Player, they would recognize her as the person on the card.

Using Ding Yi’s Identity, Yin Zhen went online. On the trending search list, three of the top ten were official rumor-debunking announcements, and the comment sections underneath all had a rather peculiar tone:

"There were helicopters hovering over my building last night. A drill? A drill for fighting aliens?"

"Where do you live, upstairs commenter? I want to go see too."

"I just want to know when the lockdown will be lifted. I still have a business trip."

"You’re still thinking about work at a time like this? Born to be a corporate slave. I hope it’s just the end of the world so I won’t have to hand in my thesis (crying)."

Yin Zhen searched for relevant information and saw a post titled "I Photographed a Vampire." The post only had one blurry photo, showing the back of a man squatting in an alley. The original poster said it was taken on such-and-such road, claiming the man had robbed a blood donation van. He hadn’t dared to get closer and ran away immediately after snapping the picture. Below it, some posted "Mom, save me," some scolded him for spreading rumors, some asked for the exact location, and some tagged a long list of official organizations.

Yin Zhen chuckled. This was such obvious clickbait; it was practically insulting everyone’s intelligence.

At seven o’clock, she received a text message notification on her phone. Yin Zhen had completed her daily check-in. Her Assimilation Degree had returned to zero. She left her phone at home and transformed into a cat again, heading to Bai Qiang’s house.

Bai Qiang lived on the first floor and had a well-kept garden. Chinese roses climbed all over half the fence, and the hydrangeas were in full bloom. It was evident that Bai Qiang was a person who enjoyed the finer things in life.

The living room lights were on. Yin Zhen squeezed in through the gap in the window. Bai Qiang was sitting on the living room rug, leaning over the coffee table writing something. Hearing the noise, she looked up and her eyes lit up when she saw Yin Zhen.

"Little Li Hua? Why are you back? Have you figured it out? Are you willing to let me keep you?"

Yin Zhen ignored her. She jumped onto the coffee table, perfunctorily rubbed her head against Bai Qiang’s outstretched hand, and let her eyes fall on the few sheets of paper. They were densely covered with words. There were major past events regarding Adeline, interpersonal relationship analyses, psychological profiles of important figures, and... methods for spiritual power manipulation!

Yin Zhen’s heart skipped a beat.

Bai Qiang was still immersed in sorting out intel and lowered her head to continue writing. Noticing the little kitten tilting its head as if in thought, Bai Qiang said while writing, "My mom says putting things on paper beats the best memory. Since I was a kid, I’ve been in the habit of sorting everything out with a pen. It helps with memorization and clears up my train of thought."

Bai Qiang wrote very fast, the pen tip making a SCRATCHING sound on the paper. Yin Zhen squatted on the coffee table, pretending to lick her paws and wash her face, sneaking sips of milk from Bai Qiang’s cup, and pawing at her pen—immersively role-playing as a cat. But her eyes were constantly fixed on those words.

Spiritual power binding, spiritual power tides, spiritual power shielding, spiritual power probing... they were all various techniques for utilizing spiritual power. Some were taught by the Cavendish family, while others were deduced and summarized by Bai Qiang herself. Wherever she was uncertain, Bai Qiang would draw a question mark.

Yin Zhen felt a surge of excitement as she read. She decided to catch a big mouse or a fat snake tomorrow to thank Bai Qiang.

Wait, why did she suddenly have such a thought?

Bai Qiang grabbed a new piece of paper and wrote a name in the center: Lucia. Then, she drew a large question mark next to it.

"This Lucia is very problematic," Bai Qiang muttered to herself, tapping her pen tip against the question mark. "Even though I have no memories of her, she always gives me a sense of discord."

Yin Zhen’s claws tightened.

"But looking at the Bloodthorn Squad’s reactions, it matches up perfectly." Bai Qiang tilted her head and pondered. "If there was a problem with consciousness transfer..."

Bai Qiang paused, her breathing gradually growing heavy.

"If she is S717... then that’s terrifying! Could S717 be the protagonist of the Red Corpse World? There were two figures involved in the Golden Defection incident that day, S717 and S704. The protagonist must be one of them.

"Or dual protagonists? One protagonist and one villain? The same origins and destinies, walking completely different paths, ultimately clashing in a decisive battle at the pinnacle of Night City?"

The half-glass of milk on the table was suddenly knocked over by a cat’s paw.

"Ah! Bad cat!" Bai Qiang hurriedly grabbed some tissues to wipe the table, reaching out to tap lightly on Yin Zhen’s head.

After wiping the table clean, Bai Qiang took the papers from the table, walked into the kitchen, and burned them all to ashes. Finally, she lit a cigarette and took a deep drag. Her mind was clear, her body and soul relaxed!

Turning her head, Bai Qiang noticed the wind blowing the white sheer curtains on the balcony. Little Li Hua’s figure had disappeared into the night.

"Hey, you come and go as you please? You deadbeat cat!"

Over the next few days, Yin Zhen stayed at home during the day, practicing walking, practicing her Extraordinary Abilities, and practicing spiritual power manipulation according to the methods Bai Qiang provided. Only at night would she go to Bai Qiang’s house, eat some of her snacks, secretly learn, and occasionally spend the night in the cat bed Bai Qiang had prepared, sneaking away only when her Assimilation Degree couldn’t hold up anymore.

Yin Zhen was like a sponge, frantically absorbing all knowledge to make herself stronger and stronger. She discovered that as her control over spiritual power grew stronger, her Player body could mobilize some spiritual power for probing and defense even without equipping a Character Card.

Bai Qiang must have discovered this as well. She hadn’t gone out at night to hunt invaders these past few days, opting to meditate at home instead. She was even able to use her Player body to fetch objects from a distance—something Yin Zhen couldn’t do yet.

The forum was very quiet. It was as if all the other Players had vanished without a trace; not a single person had posted a new thread.

The situation in Guan City gradually stabilized. It only took everyone a few days to get used to the drones flying all over the sky, the armored vehicles rushing through the streets, the uniformed people everywhere, and even the occasional gunfire. It was as if there was a mysterious force compelling these Guan City citizens, acting as mere background characters, to ignore all anomalies.

Time quickly advanced to the day of the third transmigration!