After dinner, Ming returned ho as evening approached. Once he had attended to the many tasks within his household, he settled onto the rooftop sofa, lost in thought.
Should he seek out the courier? What if this person, by chance, knew Janice and his ho address? If assuming Little A is the rule, should he act on it?
With these thoughts, he unfolded a pristine map that David had obtained from a trade for a hundred gold coins. City S was located to the southwest of zone 109, nearly 700 kiloters away. Before the apocalypse, it would have taken almost nine hours to drive there. Now, the journey required passing through the mist, making the duration uncertain. The decision to go or stay was worthy of deep consideration.
Deciding, he snapped his fingers, and in an instant, Raoul, with wings outspread, alighted beside him, clutching Euryale in his hand.
Next to the towering Raoul, Euryale appeared as but a small serpent.
"Euryale, stay. Raoul, you may leave," Ming gestured, and Raoul departed.
"Master, how may I serve you?" Euryale inquired, looking up innocently.
"I'm curious about your past deceit. Tell the story," Ming prompted.
"Well, that…"
"Tell about the entire process," Ming said, checking Euryale's attributes. She no longer possessed skills or talents but was a blank slate. He hoped she might learn abilities, much like a human.
"We would typically start our hunt at night," Euryale began hesitantly. "After all, n and won who were awake at that hour often felt lonely and sought... comfort."
Euryale began her story, "Typically, we'd scour the internet for pictures and create our own dynamic on certain apps. Then, we'd quickly add users. I could chat with up to 50 people simultaneously."
"50 at once? You must have swift fingers," Ming remarked, glancing at Euryale's scaled hand which did appear nimble. His gaze then returned to the skill cards he'd taken from her:
[Exclusive Talent: Unviewable.]
[Exclusive Talent: Penetrating Strike.]
[Exclusive Talent: Quick Hands, hand speed is 1.25 tis faster than overall agility.]
[Exclusive Talent: Serpent's Venom, poisonous fangs.]
[Exclusive Talent: Enchanting Voice.]
[God-Level Talent: Unbridgeable.]
[...]
"It's not necessarily about speed," Euryale continued a hint of pride in her tone, "We have a structured script. Once soone becos my friend, I imrse them in my verbal environnt. Then... I just Ctrl C and Ctrl V, copy and paste the standard chat. It's rather simple, really."
"I've heard that most doing this kind of work are scruffy-looking n. More importantly, as a female, how do you chat with other won?"
"Back then, I wore a wig and looked quite handso. Combined with a voice changer, my voice was magnetic," Euryale said with added sass.
"And how did you profit from this?" Ming asked, continuing his inspection.
[God-Level Talent: Petrifying Gaze. If you gaze at a beautiful woman for over a second, and if her ntal strength is weaker than yours, she'll be 'petrified'. Except for speaking, no other actions can be taken for 15 seconds, with a cooldown of 5 minutes.]
[Exclusive Skill: Venomous Hair, the small snakes in her hair can also spit venom.]
[God-Level Skill: Copy-Paste Recovery. When facing multiple targets, the Petrifying Gaze skill can instantly reset its cooldown. This ability has a cooldown of 10 minutes.]I think you should take a look at
"We always honored the motto 'ti is money'. So, once the conversation began, I would ntion I had a stomach ache or hadn't eaten that night, or perhaps had caught a cold," Euryale explained, glancing at Ming before continuing, "So would then offer to buy dicine or order so food. After all, spending little dollars seed trivial to them. But we operated under the principle that every little bit counts. In one night, we could make thousands of dollars, if on a good night, easily tens of thousands."
Ming was taken aback. Thousands of dollars in a single night, even before the apocalypse, was a fortune! It was clear why so many risked danger and the law for such a venture. It was genuinely lucrative.
Euryale, growing more animated, added, "Later on, I even started my own private chat room where I perford teasing dances and videos. That brought in even more money."
Ming smirked slightly, "Well, one could argue you earned it on your own rit."
Euryale's deanor shifted from playful to sincere, "There were so truly devoted souls among my clientele."
She looked into the distance, "There was one man who never asked for anything in return. He just silently gave. Even now, I rember his online na: ' Ocean."
Ming nodded, acknowledging that the world wasn't devoid of infatuated individuals. However, it was tragic when devotion was misplaced.
Euryale paused in her reminiscing, her gaze lingering on the horizon as if savoring traces of a past infatuation.
After a mont, Ming left the [Non-Transferable] skill intact, allowing Euryale to relearn all the other abilities and talents she once possessed.
"Why? My skills in your hand..." Euryale began, confused.
"It's a secret. Don't ask," Ming interrupted.
"well."
"Ti to sleep," Ming reclined on the couch.
"But isn't that inappropriate? I'm still a snake, even though..."
Before Euryale could finish her thought, Raoul swiftly picked her up by the waist and carried her downstairs.
Ming closed his eyes, musing, "How preposterous to think I, a good man, would sleep with a snake. What absurd fantasies."
[Ding! "Money Begets Money" title activated. You've earned 36,218 gold coins.]
[Ding! "Broken Bowl Treasure" activated. You've received one random item.]
Ming opened his inventory, looking at the bowl section, where a compass lay still.
[Compass: An exceedingly reliable navigator.]
Ming took a deep breath, connecting the dots. He had just learned of Janice's city, southwest of his current location, and now he had a compass pointing the way. The rules seed keen on guiding him there.
[Your rlin has synthesized a nauseating, dizzying toxin from mushrooms. Your poison level is 1.]
[rlin leaves the laboratory, intending to sleep beside you. Spotting the serpent woman coiled in the main hall, and intrigued by the small snakes atop her head, it bounces upstairs, landing on your chest. It looks up, "Ming, let borrow your serpent woman tomorrow."]
"Alright," Ming nodded in agreent, closing his eyes as he plotted the next day's journey. Whether or not he decided to visit S City, he needed to clear the fog in the southern zone.
[Universal Broadcast: The second seal has been broken. One of the Four Horsen of the Apocalypse, the Red Horseman, has descended. Mysterious rewards await.]
"Hmm?" Ming pondered. Should he prioritize defeating this new threat? but, where was this adversary located?
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