Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Had it not been 5 seconds yet? Jian Jing was almost in despair.

At this moment, the man was already feeling dizzy, but he was unwilling to surrender so easily. His vicious nature came up and his reason was nowhere to be found.

He just wanted to get back at her now. If he couldn't kill the original target, dragging a few more down with him would also be good.

As he swung the knife, he found himself unable to exert any strength and the knife slipped out of his hand and flew towards her.

Jian Jing watched with widened eyes as the knife drew nearer and nearer. Her mind went completely blank, only shattered images flashing across it, unable to give out any commands.

She stared with eyes wide open, waiting numbly for the ending.

This was the true reaction of an ordinary person when facing death: not dodging, not because they didn't want to dodge, but because they were unable to do so.

Thud.

The knife hit the chair and dropped to the ground.

The 5 seconds were up. The props made by the system were trustworthy. The man was dizzy and disoriented, collapsing heavily to the ground, no longer reacting.

[Task completed, system calculating rewards]

The air was silent for a good few seconds.

After a long time, everyone reacted, some kicked the knife away, some held down the fainted man, and some went to help Jian Jing up.

The nurse who had screamed just now was badly frightened. She kept asking Jian Jing, "Are you okay? Did you get hurt?"

Jian Jing shook her head stiffly. There were dark shadows before her eyes and her head throbbed.

"I," she opened her mouth, only to find her voice trembling badly, "might have low blood sugar."

The nurse immediately opened a pack of glucose and fed it to Jian Jing's mouth.

Like a traveller who had walked in the desert for days, Jian Jing greedily drank several mouthfuls. The water and sugar replenished her lost sweat and energy. She finally felt like she could breathe again.

"Phew," she slumped into the chair, too tired to even move a finger. The only thought left in her fuzzy mind was: It's finally over.

She didn't die, that's great.

She had survived.

"Thank you," the nurse said. Her slightly reddened eyes were full of gratitude.

Jian Jing gave a wry smile and waved her hand. The nurse seemed to want to say more but a patient outside suddenly cried out. It sounded like an old person having a heart attack. The nurse had no choice but to say "Call me if you need anything" before hurrying away.

Jian Jing gave a cursory nod, too drained for pleasantries. She was truly exhausted. The few minutes earlier had drained all her energy. She desperately wanted to return to her ward immediately and crash into bed.

In a daze—she thought it was only a few minutes but half an hour had actually passed—a shadow suddenly loomed before her: "Hello, I'm Ji Feng from the Criminal Investigation Division. We already understand what happened earlier. May I trouble you to come to the station to give a statement?"

Jian Jing forced her eyes open to size up this uninvited guest.

The other party was in plain clothes but showed her his police ID. The man in the photo had handsome, dignified features. The real person was even more remarkable, an exceptionally masculine, heroic man.

But even if Wu Yanzu appeared before her now, she wouldn't have the slightest interest.

Jian Jing's head hurt as if it would split open. Her blood sugar was low again and her emotions were somewhat out of control. "I'm a patient!"

Help! What was a statement? Could she eat it?

All she wanted now was a piping hot bowl of instant noodles to give her the energy to walk back to her ward and sleep.

Ji Feng raised his eyebrows.

In fact, before coming to find her, he had already watched the surveillance videos. It was because he saw what she did that he felt it was strange.

An ordinary girl was actually able to discover and stop a murder. It was simply unbelievable.

How did she know the person was problematic and took action ahead of time? If not for her timely pushcart, the deaths and injuries today would definitely have been dreadful.

"Tomorrow will do as well," Ji Feng took out his phone. "Leave me a contact."

Jian Jing felt her pocket. Her phone was missing. She couldn't remember at all if she had brought her phone or had accidentally dropped it somewhere.

"Is this it?" Ji Feng picked up a phone on the chair next to them and lit up the screen.

Rubbing her temples, she nodded vaguely, recalling that it was a nurse who had picked it up and returned it to her.

Ji Feng used her phone to dial his number, politely saying, "I hope you can cooperate with our work. Just look for me directly when you get there. Right, may I ask how to address you?"

"Jian Jing."

She pondered briefly before deciding to use both Enhancement Cards.

[Enhancement Card - Physique (1 Point) used]

[Enhancement Card - Agility (1 Point) used]

After the two prompts, a brand new panel leaped into view, clearly displaying her personal stats.

[Character Panel]

Name: Jian Jing

Gender: Female

Age: 20

Status: Carbon Monoxide Poisoning (Treated)

Physique: 5 (4 Base Value + 1 Enhancement Point)

Strength: 4

Agility: 6 (5 Base Value + 1 Enhancement Point)

Explosiveness: 3

Endurance: 4

Talent: Literary Creation (Locked)

Knowledge: Forensics (Basic)

Skill: Observation (Basic)

Items: Recovery Candy (5/5), Black Tech Glasses

Jian Jing knitted her brows. "What do these numbers mean?"

[System: Human attributes range from 1-10. 6 is the average value for an adult woman. 1-3 is low, 4-5 is below average, 7-8 is strong, 9-10 is superb, above 10 is human limit.]

Jian Jing: "..." In other words her physical fitness was garbage?

Perhaps sensing her skepticism, the system very intelligently adjusted its description:

Physique: 5 (The result of staying up late every day)

Strength: 4 (You can't lift a bucket of water)

Agility: 6 (Gaming is when you're most nimble)

Explosiveness: 3 (You'd definitely be awful at sprinting)

Endurance: 4 (You should worry about your future X life)

"Pfft—" Jian Jing spat out a mouthful of water. What kind of system was this, was this what true AI was like?

[System: Does the host have any other questions?]

Jian Jing pressed her forehead and composed herself before asking, "The Knowledge and Skill Cards are all Basic level. Can I draw Intermediate or Advanced cards later?"

[System: No, the ordinary card pool only has Basic cards.]

"Then how do I upgrade them?"

[Consume 3 Basic cards to synthesize 1 Upgrade card for Basic -> Intermediate]

[Consume 8 Basic cards to synthesize 1 Powerful Upgrade card for Intermediate -> Advanced]

[Consume 15 Basic cards to synthesize 1 Super Powerful Upgrade card for Advanced -> Expert]

Jian Jing was surprised. "That's way too high a cost."

[System: To prevent the host from abusing high level skills and causing unfair phenomena, these restrictions have been implemented.]

Jian Jing thought for a moment before feeling resigned.

It made sense after all. Take forensics for example, upgrading from Basic to Advanced would require 11 Basic cards, costing 55 Courage Points. That's probably around the effort of a few instance dungeons, the time and energy spent definitely less than that of a real forensic scientist. It would be cheating with a walkthrough.

If there were no restrictions, people with the system would be able to easily gain numerous high level skills, which would be terribly unfair to those diligently working hard for them in the real world.

Having to consume cards also matched reality's need for trade-offs - choosing to specialize in one field naturally leaves less energy to study other things.