Due to the little accident along the way, QiLeren abandoned his plan of visiting Dr Lu altogether and quickly headed to SuHe"s accommodation instead. When he arrived, QiLeren realised that he shouldn"t have worried after all; Dr Lu was also at SuHe"s place, proudly showing off the new item card that he picked up off the road:

[Free WiFi]: A strange item that causes people to gravitate towards it. As long as it works property, n.o.body will care about where it comes from and easily overlook its owner as they concentrate on their phones own business instead. Should the holder move a certain distance away, the people will follow. All surrounding NPCs and players will be compelled to enjoy the holder"s company. Remaining usage: 88 hour(s).

"So there I was, out on a walk, and I spot this bad boy lying in the corner. I have no idea who left it there." Dr Lu gleefully grabbed his card from QiLeren"s hands and slid it into a card slot.

QiLeren subconsciously shuffled towards Dr Lu. Any choice words he wanted to say evaporated in an instant, leaving him to turn to SuHe instead, who patiently listened as he recounted his encounter in the alleyway.

After he finished, SuHe took a moment to consider his words. "This is clearly a quest that happens in the Nightmare World itself. From the name, I"d wager that it has something to do with demonic worship."

"Huh? Demonic?!" Dr Lu quivered a bit and shot QiLeren a look of pity.

Unfortunately, his words went unnoticed.

"Witchcraft sacrifice… It sounds very similar to offering sacrifices to demons in exchange for power or protection. Since you mentioned that others may have received the same quest, then it"s very likely for it to be one with multiple players at the same time. Conflicts may arise between players, which makes it…disadvantageous for a newcomer such as yourself."

QiLeren grimaced. "I figured as much…but even if I can"t win by brute force, I still stand a chance as long as S/L isn"t in cooldown. Getting rid of that murderer gave me some inspiration; if I catch my opponent off guard, I can probably take them with me and then load a save."

SuHe nodded appreciatively. "I"m glad you"ve found a way to creatively utilise your skill. Many people dismiss cards that come into their possession as useless, when in reality it"s simply not been used to its full potential. Here"s a suggestion: to unlock the full potential of the law of S/L, consider obtaining an skill card that predicts the future or enhances your intuition to warn you of threats.

"There are two paths you can go down. One is, as you said, to use kamikaze tactics. The other would be similar to XueYingying"s combat style, where you trade your vitality for bursts of attack power. This would suit you very well as unlike other people, you don"t have to worry about the drawbacks. Item drops from quests tend to be heavily dependent on RNG though, so I would suggest saving up and trading for such cards."

QiLeren dazedly digested the information. "I…have never thought of it that way."

"That"s not all," SuHe said with a smile. "I"ve once heard of a card that can revive another person at the cost of the holder"s life. It sounds quite amazing but was deemed to be lacking in practicality and eventually sold for a very low price. If you could pair such a card with your skill…"

Dr Lu gasped. "Oh my G.o.d, so your skill"s actually broken. You"re the one with the cheat codes all this time!"

No, QiLeren thought, that"s SuHe.

"And in regards to the quest location, Makah Village," SuHe continued, pa.s.sing on his experience, "I would suggest doing a bit of research. You may find some clues that will save your life."

"Where would I find the resources?" QiLeren asked, ever the good student.

"Eventide has libraries that you can browse for a small fee. Alternatively, you can seek out information brokers like ChenBaiqi. One of the many things she deals in is intelligence."

"Does… Does she charge a lot…?" As a broke newcomer, this was QiLeren"s primary concern.

SuHe chuckled lightly. "She prefers to deal long-term businesses. If she likes what she sees, she"ll be willing to give you a loan for your potential."

"A loan?" muttered the long-forgotten Dr Lu. "She"s not scared of people dying and leaving their loans unpaid?"

"No, she"ll get her money back from those who are alive."

"You finally noticed me! You"ve been ignoring me for so long," Dr Lu exclaimed. "This WiFi card is pretty useful, huh."

SuHe gave him a faint smile. "It does indeed lower your presence, but this degree of disguise will do nothing for those with sharp senses."

Dr Lu drew the card out with a sigh. "Well, it"s better than nothing I guess."

It was only after the card was removed that Dr Lu"s existence became more solid in QiLeren"s eyes. It wasn"t that he couldn"t see him per se, but rather that it was too easy to forget that there was another person there.

"Come to think of it," SuHe mused suddenly, "I don"t believe you"ve told us of your real name."

It took QiLeren a beat to realise that Dr Lu wasn"t a real name. He had completely overlooked this detail in the tutorial village!

Dr Lu burst into nervous laughter. "Names are…very unimportant, wouldn"t you agree? …Hahahahaha…haha…" He waved a hand as if to dispel the question.

QiLeren and SuHe looked meaningfully at each other before simultaneously turning to Dr Lu and burning into him with their eyes.

The room was completely still for a second. Two seconds. Three seconds.

Somewhere around the ten second mark, Dr Lu caved into the pressure. "Alright, alright, I"ll tell you so stop looking at me like that! But you have to promise not to laugh."

"I promise not to laugh," QiLeren said with a straight face.

"I"ll try," SuHe offered instead. He flitted his eyelashes at Dr Lu, which was totally unfair.

"Ok, fine," Dr Lu conceded. "My full name is…" his voice lowered to a whisper so soft QiLeren almost couldn"t hear, "…LuCangshu…"

"Pfft-" QiLeren tried his best, he really did. Beside him, SuHe attempted to disguise his aborted laugh as coughing.

Dr Lu levelled them an half-hearted glare, pouting. "You laughed. Liars."

"I"m sorry, but…" QiLeren"s face twisted horrifyingly as he fought with his smile before just giving in to the howling laughter.

"It"s not the Cangshu you"re thinking of!" Dr Lu insisted with indignation amidst his friends" display of pure betrayal. "My name uses different characters to the ones for hamster!"

His attempts at explanation were only met with knowing grins. He gritted his teeth. "I"m telling you right now, do not call me by that name! I didn"t spend all those years in med school only for people to not respectfully address me as Dr Lu, okay?! I"m going to be a legendary doctor in the future, so you better not mess with me!"

"That"s quite the goal," SuHe said encouragingly.

"Duh, I didn"t go through the torture that"s getting my certification just so I could die as some cannon fodder," Dr Lu huffed.

SuHe patted his left shoulder. "Keep up the good work."

QiLeren patted his right. "I believe in you."

Sandwiched between the two, Dr Lu was suddenly acutely aware of their differences in height. "I hereby curse the both of you to a life without cute girls…" he sulked bitterly.

"Sorry, but I prefer the beautiful onee-san type who can hold their own. I strongly suggest you reconsider your preferences, because there"s no future between a cute girl and a hamster," QiLeren advised sagely.

Dr Lu wanted to murder someone.

"So that"s Leren"s type," SuHe said, as if he"d stumbled upon an astonishing revelation.

QiLeren nodded fervently. He was fiercely appreciative of independent women with career ambitions, perhaps as a by-product of having grown up being influenced by his mother. Cute girls were nice and all, but they lacked that particular spark for him. "What about you?" he asked SuHe as an afterthought.

"I prefer cute boys," SuHe dropped the bombsh.e.l.l with astonishing sobriety.

"!!!" As a legal shota, Dr Lu darted behind QiLeren in a flash, who looked at SuHe a little weirdly.

"I"m joking," SuHe said, a mirthful smile playing on his lips. "Of course."

Dr Lu"s given name (仓曙cāng shǔ) has the same reading as hamster (仓鼠cāng shǔ).

The word Qileren uses here is 御姐yù jiě, a way of referring to ‘older sister type" mature women (think of all those beautiful senpai characters in anime), which is a loan word from the j.a.panese equivalent of お姉ねえ系けい (oneekei).

Like above, the term used here is 正太zhèng tài, a loan word from its j.a.panese equivalent, ショタ (shota).