Chapter 021: Calamity Dice

Ke Mingye turned his attention to the last skill on the dedicated page, skill number 10.

[Skill Name: Calamity Dice]

[Skill Level: D Level]

[Skill Effect: Produces a dice in hand and allows for an "irreversible" throw of the dice, after which an event corresponding to the number rolled will occur in reality. (Each occurrence brings a different event.)]

[Skill Cooldown Time: One day]

[After accumulating 10 uses of this skill, it will evolve: the evolved "Calamity Dice" allows for two throws, and you can choose one event from the two numbers rolled.]

[Each use of this skill presents a different event corresponding to the number on each face of the dice, below is an exhibition of a part of the publicly available events from the event library:

①: A gigantic Mario will soon run through the street; ②: A band will soon run in front of you and play loudly; ③: A dance troupe will appear and perform the seaweed dance in front of you; ④: A huge hot-air balloon ship will fly across the sky; ⑤: A massive whale will fall from the sky; ⑥: Someone will aim a machine gun in your direction and fire…]

"This is defying the heavens."

This was Ke Mingye's first thought after reading the skill description.

He considered that this skill was purely about luck—bad luck could abruptly disrupt an ongoing scenario with a tragic event risking his own life; but then again, he thought that if luck was on his side, perhaps rolling the dice in a desperate moment could drastically change his fate and wasn't an exaggerated idea.

A double-edged sword indeed.

But for Ke Mingye, this skill was definitely not something to use in good times, but rather as a last resort in adversity: the worst outcome could only be death, so no matter what the dice roll resulted in, it couldn't get any worse.

What to do? I only have one more skill acquisition right left, but I really want both this "Calamity Dice" and that "Flatland Fall Expert."

Ke Mingye let out a long sigh. He suddenly understood the feeling the protagonist of a harem anime must feel when forced into pure romance by the author. He could have chosen both, but he was forced to make a choice.

The more he thought, the more confused he got. He decided to act decisively, and so he extended his finger to click on the "Calamity Dice" panel, using his last authority. He acquired this skill for free from the system—"Flatland Fall Expert" was after all a skill with a high gag component. It might sometimes work wonders, but relying on it to miraculously change fate was unlikely. From a practical standpoint, it was far inferior to Calamity Dice.

After all, what true man doesn't want to defy fate with a roll of the dice in a dire situation? The spirit of a gambler burns deep within everyone's soul.

Having chosen both skills, the gym class was also nearly over. The high school wouldn't officially start summer vacation until tomorrow noon, so he still had to come to school tomorrow morning.

He glanced at today's date, June 19.

Both Bai Zini and Bai Ziling had already started their junior high vacation—this meant that for this entire summer vacation, all of China could witness a Magical Girl Ash freed from school's gravity, instead of one who could only appear on Saturdays and Sundays; additionally, the likelihood of passersby being attacked by vampires at night might also increase.

For other students, the approaching summer vacation would absolutely be a mood-lifter.

But Ke Mingye was different. The words "summer vacation" meant that he had to spend two months stuck with the monsters at home, especially his eldest and second brothers, whom he currently wanted to avoid the most.

One was an operative at the Anomaly Control Bureau and the other a ninja, both of them top-tier in their respective organizations, not just any ordinary members.

Ke Mingye could deceive the younger kids at home, but getting close to these two made it really easy to blow his cover, especially since Ke Xiaomo was already keeping an eye on him.

"Not only do I have to hide my identity from them, but I also have to find time under their watchful eyes to go out and meet other players and play the instance. It's like walking on thin ice," thought Ke Mingye. "Should I just sacrifice the other people in the house to distract them? Maybe use some subtle tricks, hint a little to Ke Yinzhi and Ke Xiaomo about the real identities of Bai Qiuwu, Ke Yongzhu, and Bai Zini, so both of them will focus on them and should have no time to bother with me, a muggle..."

Thinking this, he shook his head, thinking it was not a great idea after all. It was very likely that in the process of leaking information and guiding them, he would be discovered, so it would be best to avoid taking the initiative for now.

Ke Mingye did not think it was unlikely that his second brother, Ke Xiaomo, wouldn't come to school to observe him; hence, even when he was alone in the classroom, he tried to cover up small movements that had to be made on the operation panel by pretending to "flip a book" or "open a backpack," handling most other operations with his mind, so no worries were needed.

Right as he opened his backpack again, the "Contacts" icon in the upper right corner of his vision suddenly began to tremble, and a bubble with the number "1" appeared above the icon.

As Ke Mingye pulled out his history textbook from his backpack, he raised an eyebrow. He knew this meant that he had received a message from the contacts list.

He used his mind to click on the icon, opening the contacts list.

[A message from the Local Players Discussion Group has arrived in the discussion group including players "Unclear Dream," "Fan Quan," and "Good Tangerine Peel."]

[Fan Quan: Today at five-thirty PM, assemble at the Meiyijia Supermarket on Yandai Commercial Street downtown. Another player "Unclear Dream" and I will be waiting for you two there.]

[Fan Quan: Also, I only trust those who show up. If I don't see you, I'll assume you don't exist in this city. Don't expect me to provide any information via the communication board. Exchanging information with someone I haven't confirmed face-to-face holds no benefits for me.]

After reading these two stern messages, Ke Mingye looked down and ran his fingers through his hair.

"How humorous, neither of you have anyone watching your starting points, so you can freely stroll around," he thought. "Now, how am I supposed to slip away when my second brother is watching me?"

He knew this player with the ID "Fan Quan" was trying to take control, and he didn't mind letting him take the initiative to gather the players. However, this person was a bit too eager, without considering the situations of other players.

Ke Mingye thought, however, from someone else's perspective, that if someone couldn't even make it to a supermarket downtown within two hours, there really wasn't much point in collaborating—after all, a player who couldn't move freely in the city and was constantly watched, how could they collaborate with him? The risk of being dragged down was much greater than the potential benefits.

If Ke Mingye's starting point were relatively safe and free, he would undoubtedly do something similar, isolating players in precarious situations and contacting players whose circumstances were safer and who could move freely.

Ke Mingye knew he was surrounded at home by eight superhumans, leaving him in a perilous situation. Meeting other players now could easily drag them into trouble, especially if his elder and second brothers ended up watching them too, leaving them with nothing but the prospect of a group wipeout.

Though he was aware of this, he didn't expect someone else to consider it so soon and even bring another player into the stance, leaving him caught between a rock and a hard place.

If this continued, he might end up cutting contact with the other three local players entirely, left to struggle alone.