Gao Yi was never someone blessed by the goddess of luck.
In fact, he strongly suspected that in his previous life, he was a scumbag who had heartlessly abandoned the goddess who controlled luck; otherwise, he couldn't explain the never-ending misfortune that plagued him.
When he was six, his parents died in a car accident, leaving Gao Yi alone with no relatives.
The half-grown children in the orphanage already had their own cliques, and he, as a newcomer, could never integrate. He only had one friend left whom he still contacted after growing up.
Six months ago, this only friend from the orphanage asked Gao Yi to be a guarantor for a "big project" he was undertaking.
Gao Yi only found out two months ago when creditors came knocking that the guy had swindled a large sum of money and was now nowhere to be found.
As the guarantor, Gao Yi inexplicably ended up with a massive debt far beyond his ability to repay.
When his friend talked to Gao Yi, he was full of sincerity, but it turned out he shamelessly betrayed him without hesitation. One could only say he deserved to be an orphan...
It wasn't without solace, though; Gao Yi, fresh into the workplace, caught the newspaper's information transformation, and his kind superior valued him greatly, giving him immense freedom in choosing topics.
And Gao Yi lived up to expectations, spending three months on special training, disguising himself with dissociative identity disorder and mania, and infiltrating a notorious mental hospital.
Two months of undercover work allowed him to record countless pieces of evidence of nurses and doctors violating regulations by misusing medication, subjecting patients to personal humiliation, and even using violence—of course, it also made Gao Yi suffer immensely.
But when Gao Yi unreservedly handed over the fruitful results of his half-year's effort to his superior, the latter kicked him aside and turned around, giving the credit for "brave reporter fearlessly infiltrating an illegal mental hospital" to his protégé.
And Gao Yi, as the true meritorious official, was instead endlessly suppressed and slandered, ultimately forced to resign voluntarily, not even receiving his salary for that month.
Why did this happen?
Gao Yi had asked himself, but he also knew that such questions led nowhere, and only his mindset grew tougher through repeated tempering.
But looking at the two subway security guards jogging over, and those annoying onlookers who enjoyed a good show, an unidentifiable surge of anger still welled up in Gao Yi's heart.
He had clearly pacified the dangerous man; if he had been given a little more time, he might have been able to complete the task and receive the system's reward.
But just at this critical moment, someone else came to disrupt the situation.
"Both of you quickly put down your weapons and lie on the ground to surrender."
Damn it, do you even hear what you're saying?
Where's the "both of you"? Where are the "weapons"? Can't you think and observe carefully before acting?
Of course, more anxious and angrier than Gao Yi was the man in the black hoodie opposite him.
He stood up from the metal seat, his lean figure standing as steadily as a withered tree in the moving subway.
The man pushed his hoodie back, revealing his close-cropped hair, like that of a reformatory inmate, and his murderous gaze.
The two security guards were clearly startled by the surging killing intent and oppressive aura, stopping their steps about eleven or twelve meters away.
They exchanged glances, then each pulled out a black-glowing metal baton from their waist, flicking their wrists to extend them.
Wait, do subway security guards carry this kind of weapon?
More accurately, he had never heard of special security being deployed on the subway in Nankang City before.
In the instant Gao Yi was thinking at high speed, the man in the black hoodie had already moved.
He pushed off with his back foot, rushing towards the security guard on the left at a speed far exceeding that of an ordinary person.
Before the other party could react, a hook punch hit him in the abdomen, sending the entire person flying.
The body turned into a black shadow flying through the carriage, spitting out half a mouthful of blood in mid-air.
The security guard in the blue uniform fell to the ground, then slid several meters further, landing right in front of the group of onlookers.
The female streamer who had just been exclaiming, "The situation has changed again, haha, two bad guys are about to be dealt with!" now let out a piercing scream, dragging a large group of passengers to run towards the front of the carriage.
And seeing his companion get knocked flying, the other security guard turned his fear into anger, roaring as he smashed his baton onto the back of the black-hoodied man's head, with faint flashes of electricity visible.
Their batons actually had electric shock capabilities? Even security guards for general large companies don't have this level of armament, do they?
But for Gao Yi, this wasn't necessarily a bad thing; he took the opportunity to focus his mind and check the mission.
Special Mission: Subdue the out-of-control player and seize his game qualification (00:01:45).
There were still two minutes on the countdown. Since his goal was to "subdue" the opponent, it wasn't impossible to use the strength of others.
But soon, Gao Yi found his plan had come to naught.
The man, who had been struck on the back of the head by the baton, had not lost his ability to resist at all. He completely disregarded the blood flowing from the back of his head, turned around, and grabbed the other security guard's collar.
Amidst the other party's wails, the man twisted his body slightly, flicked his wrist, and flung the other security guard away, sending him crashing straight into the glass on the other side.
Above the carriage, the subway bell played a melodious tune, and a cheerful female voice announced the arrival of the next station:
"Next stop... Hongshan Temple. Passengers wishing to alight, please prepare in advance..."
As the uniformed body slowly slid down, the blood-stained, web-like glass and the rather beautiful night view of Nankang City were revealed.
"You really should go fight Batman instead; I feel like that's where you'd have more room to show off..."
Gao Yi maintained his well-honed composure, managing to mutter a complaint in such a situation.
But the man in the black hoodie evidently hadn't vented all his anger. He looked around, and a moment later, his still-murderous gaze turned towards Gao Yi, who was sitting.
"You actually dared to call people to catch me!"
He rushed over at a speed no human should possess, grabbing Gao Yi's collar with a fierce grip, his voice filled with rage.
Gao Yi felt as if his entire body had been slammed hard into the metal seat, his back and spine throbbing with a numbing pain.
In that instant, Gao Yi truly felt the approach of death.
In absolute peril, his thoughts raced faster, and he instinctively denied it:
"How could I be with those two idiots? Didn't you hear what they said? He told both of us to surrender together, so we're on the same side!"
At this moment, Gao Yi disregarded his image, slammed the metal seat beside him, and tried his best to show even greater indignation, perfectly expressing his feeling of being wronged.
The man didn't let go, but the grip on Gao Yi's collar noticeably loosened, clearly startled by Gao Yi's performance.
But that wasn't enough. He focused his mental power slightly and opened the task list.
Special Mission: Subdue the out-of-control player and seize his game qualification (00:00:35).
Only half a minute left.
Time, the problem was there was no time left.
But similarly, why was this mission only given such a short amount of time?
A large amount of information was integrated, categorized, and sorted in Gao Yi's mind.
That's right, the man had also mentioned earlier, "only a few minutes left."
Perhaps...
His thoughts raced, and Gao Yi quickly made a switch, asking a question in a tone full of concern and confusion:
"By the way, do you still have time? Aren't you about to enter the game?"
Upon hearing this, the man's body visibly trembled, and he released Gao Yi as if waking from a dream.
He frantically fumbled in his pocket for a while before finally pulling out a rectangular, ticket-like piece of paper from inside.
"Only a dozen seconds left... Damn it, the Holy Grail Game, why do I only have this one ticket left? It's all because of..."
The man's voice was filled with unconcealed despair and pain, but Gao Yi, beside him, clearly had no intention of continuing to stall.
The moment the man noticed something amiss from the corner of his eye and looked up, a yellow can in Gao Yi's hand had already aimed its nozzle at him.
It was none other than the super anti-wolf spray he had won in the lottery tonight.
Moments later, a large amount of irritating chemical substances covered the man's entire face, making him wail in pain and instinctively try to block it with his hands.
But Gao Yi's actions were not over. With a pre-planned flick and hook of his foot, the baton that had flown out with the security guard came into his hand.
Grabbing the man in the midst of his wails, he pressed the switch, and the metal baton, charged with electricity, was thrust straight into his mouth.
A jolt of electricity and muffled wails. In the distance, the still-watching passengers gasped again.
Confirming that the man had lost his ability to resist, in the last two seconds of the mission countdown, Gao Yi made another dive, grabbing the "ticket" that had fallen from the opponent's hand and clutching it tightly in his palm.
Special Mission Completed.
Rewards Gained: Portable Tag +1, Rare Trait *1, Common Item Draw Chance *3.
Trait Gained: Act of Courage (Rare).
Finally!
But at the same time, a strange halo flashed before Gao Yi, making everything go black.
It was a long time later that Gao Yi learned that the mysterious ticket didn't care who its owner was; it only needed to send the holder into the game at a fixed time.
The goddess of luck was still playing a joke on him, only this time the joke was a bit bigger.