Chapter 10: The Gears of Fate
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The case involving Liu Zhengliu and Liu Hongsheng had reached a deadlock. Although tests confirmed that Liu Hongsheng’s cause of death was unrelated to the stab wounds or the fall, countless witnesses had seen Liu Hongsheng escape from Liu Zhengliu’s grasp. The blood on Liu Zhengliu’s hands and her fingerprints on the knife handle were irrefutable evidence.
There was no way Liu Zhengliu could leave so soon; moreover, Liu Hongsheng’s wife was adamant about seeing her imprisoned. The incident had blown up, taking place right beneath the entertainment company’s building, and within a few days, it was trending online.
With her manager gone and no one to oversee her affairs, the only opportunity she had was snatched away by big shots in the industry. She was secretly relieved.
This company’s two most foolish people—one dead, the other under investigation—were the cause of her past scandals. The higher-ups wanted to support her, as it was unwise to alienate their own talent, but with six months left on her contract, Liu Zhengliu had declared her intention to terminate and switch agencies. So they all remained silent, letting those two handle things as they pleased.
Yu Xunge planned to coast along for half a year, waiting to terminate her contract and retire from the industry.
She had been busy lately, and yesterday she had been pondering something that could earn Yu Xunhuan’s trust while suppressing him simultaneously.
First, she ruled out memory modification. Even if she altered the memories of Yu Xunhuan or Yu Qingshan or Yi Qiuguo from the 22nd, the surveillance footage couldn’t be faked. Yu Xunhuan was extremely suspicious, almost to a fault, cautious to his core. If he harbored any doubts, he would check the footage from that day, and contradictions between false memories and real evidence would not only destroy her chance to gain his trust but would also serve as undeniable proof of her scheming.
In her past life, the Su, Han, and Liang families all sent people to hunt her down, but the most troublesome wasn’t the Su family. Though the Su dispatched many, it was manageable to evade them. The real headache was the person sent by the Liang family—not just because Liang Yuchuan was ruthless, but also because someone in the Liang family had a particularly disgusting innate talent!!!
Just thinking about that person made Yu Xunge’s head spin and cold sweat break out, as if she had spent an entire day wrestling with advanced mathematics.
[Fate Gear] (B-rank)
[Skill 1] Happier Again: Select a target and spin their fate gear to alter their luck for that day. The modification lasts six hours with a six-hour cooldown. (You may choose whether or not to hide the altered fate value from the target.)
[Skill 2] Your Combination Is Wrong, I Don’t Like It: Select a target and spin their fate gear to swap their highest attribute with their lowest attribute. The swap lasts one hour with a six-hour cooldown.
Though it was only B-rank, it was horrifically vile—truly the gateway to misery!
Or rather, it made sense that without any offensive skills, it could still be rated B-rank.
During those days, whenever this person saw her, she would be unlucky for a full six hours.
What’s more important is that this luck alteration wasn’t visible on the affected person’s stats panel. She herself always saw her luck value as 8.
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Then suddenly, her luck plummeted.
Every escape route ended in a dead end, disguises were always discovered by chance, she choked halfway through drinking a blood potion, magic misfired, guns exploded, and even magic missiles—which automatically track targets—never landed a critical hit. At that time, her critical hit rate was stacked to 77%! Yet after firing sixty magic missiles, not a single critical hit occurred.
Was this a divine gift? No—it was a divine curse!
She had evaded capture for an entire year, but after that person arrived, she was caught alive within seven days, all because of this cursed talent.
But the question was, was that person a beta tester?
There were three beta tests. The first reportedly had only a few hundred players logging in. By the second, word spread rapidly despite the sudden timing, and thousands flooded the servers. The third beta saw hundreds of thousands creating characters.
Regardless, Yu Xunge planned to find that person within a few days. If he participated in the beta, she would eliminate him immediately!
Then she would test if this skill could affect non-players. If it could, she would use it on Yu Xunhuan.
If Yu Xunhuan, despite abysmal luck, still drew an SS-rank innate talent from his past life, she would instantly steal it and kill him on the spot. Even if she spent her next life in regret, she would give Yu Xunhuan a bitter end. If he only got a mediocre divine gift, that would be even better.
That person was easy to find—he was the Liang family’s driver. Yu Xunge knew where the Liang family’s old mansion was, right in one of the best spots in the villa district. After all, without enough influence and wealth, how could one be the heroine in a male-centered story?
She didn’t rush to the Liang family yet; instead, she brewed potions at home.
Besides twenty bottles of basic invisibility potions, she also had over fifty intermediate invisibility potions. Unlike the basic ones, which lasted only five minutes, these lasted fifteen minutes, though with a longer cooldown of twenty minutes.
She had found a beef skewer recipe under [Cooking] (Basic) and made 297 skewers, storing them in her backpack. Each skewer took a minute to eat and slowly restored 5 health points—both a meat reserve and cooking practice.
Now, her 24-slot backpack was filled with miscellaneous items, clothing, and weapons, while six shabby small bags held food and potions she could use anytime: 99 basic healing potions, 99 basic mana potions, 57 intermediate invisibility potions, and 99 beef skewers in each of three stacks.
If she was the woman of the male lead, how could she not be a beta tester?
The world didn’t revolve around Yu Xunge, but it certainly revolved around the male and female leads.
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Not only were the male and female leads beta testers, but the male lead’s brothers were as well. Otherwise, how could they be so close, calling each other brothers?
Wonderful—she was the only one not in that group.
They were isolating her!
Yu Xunge’s purpose in visiting the Liang family this time was not only to target the Fate Gear but also to confront the male lead’s second girlfriend—Liang Yuchuan.
The male lead’s three beloved women each possessed S-rank innate talents. The lawful wife, Su Yitong, had a divine gift related to healing and later mastered various buff skills, making her the strongest support. The second girlfriend, Liang Yuchuan, also had an S-rank divine gift, one of only two publicly revealed S-rank talents on the top 100 leaderboard.
[Water God] (S-rank)
[Skill 1] Where There Is Water, There I Am: Can transform into a water droplet and merge with water.
[Skill 2] You’re So Watery: All water-related items and skills gain a 50% buff.
[Skill 3] Vampire: Has a 20% chance to absorb 1% of the opponent’s health upon use.
[Skill 4] I, the Water God, Heal (Passive): When transformed into a water droplet or submerged in water, injuries slowly regenerate.
Yu Xunge coveted this talent, but she didn’t plan to steal it. If Yu Xunhuan, with luck at only 1, still drew an SS-rank talent, she would immediately use her skill to steal his SS talent and kill him. If he only got a mundane talent, she would keep her [Thief God’s Theft, or simply Bandit’s Theft] skill ready to prevent any comeback.
Moreover, deaths in the game world reset the cooldown of [Thief God’s Theft]. As long as the skill hadn’t been used, she could use it twice more after entering the game, so there was no way she would waste it in reality.
She wanted to try stealing an item from Liang Yuchuan—she didn’t believe the female lead had no valuable possessions.
Her fifty-million-yuan villa was in the same area as the Liang family’s estate, not far away. In her past life, Yu Xunhuan had connected with the Liang family through a dungeon in that villa.