[Profession: Adventurer (Level 1, Career Path Not Selected)
Title: Court Rebel (Higher chance of gaining favor from underground streets); Voodoo Medium (Particularly effective against Voodooism followers)
Stamina: 1.3/1.3
Intelligence: 1.2/1.3
Mental Power: 0.2/0.6
Health: 12/60
Experience: 36/100
Skills: Minstrel Performance (Beginner 30%); Stranger in a Strange Land (Passive 50%); Tactical Dagger Use (Mastered); Compound Creation (Beginner 70%)
Battle Pet: Wild Hound (Level 1 40%)
Status: Severely Weakened by Illness]
Wayne glanced at the data on the panel and gave a slight nod.
His health had recovered by two points again—the antibiotics were still working.
However, using skills truly consumed mental power. His mental power was nearly depleted, and he felt slightly dizzy.
He then looked at the foul-smelling sugared apple in the bag before him and selected the "Refine" option.
Immediately, a new option appeared on the panel, presenting two paths:
[Basic Backpack (5 space units) / Skin Mask (5 disguises)]
Seeing the words "Basic Backpack," Wayne couldn't help but shudder. Without hesitation, he chose the Basic Backpack option.
It had finally appeared.
A Dimensional Backpack!
This thing was an absolute necessity.
The moment Wayne made his choice, the five sugared apples in the net bag instantly turned black, shriveled, and shrank to the size of walnuts. The clusters of maggots on them carbonized and vanished.
Gold Tooth Man and Vest Man, sitting with Wayne in the truck bed, widened their eyes in disbelief.
They had only seen Wayne reach out toward the sugared apples in the net bag, never expecting such an unbelievable scene to unfold.
This kid really was a Voodoo Medium!
Wayne had no time to dwell on their reactions. He immediately turned his attention back to the panel.
A new section had appeared on one side of the panel—five grid spaces.
[Basic Backpack: Contains five space units, capable of storing five items]
Perfect.
Wayne reached into his pocket, gripped his phone, and with a slight mental command, felt his palm suddenly empty.
Looking back at the panel, his phone now clearly occupied one of the grid spaces.
This was practically a tool for zero-cost shopping.
"Screech—" The pickup truck came to an abrupt halt. Tattooed Dick stepped out and said to Wayne with a mocking smile,
"Listen, Wayne, you owe Big Daddy $10,000 now. You have one week to pay up, or you'll work for us... We have plenty of jobs that would suit you."
Wayne, clutching the puppy Wick, jumped down from the truck. He coughed violently and frowned, asking,
"Cough... Wasn't it only $5,000? How did it become $10,000?"
Tattooed Dick grinned, revealing a mouthful of blackened, rotten teeth, and replied,
"Five thousand is for Old John, and another five thousand is for yourself. Plus, our interest doubles every week. Consider this Big Daddy's special favor. Now, go earn your $20,000."
"Don't even think about running or leaving Seattle. Seta has plenty of ways to find you."
As he spoke, he made a throat-slitting gesture toward Wayne, then got in the car and started the engine.
Gold-Tooth in the passenger seat shoved the bag of shriveled sugared apples at Wayne, grinning as he said:
"Good luck, Bang Jack. I'm looking forward to having a celebrity partner. Maybe you can read my fortune sometime."
With that, the pickup truck made a sharp U-turn and sped off the way it came, leaving Wayne standing alone on the street with his dog Wick.
[Side Quest: Old John's Debt - 60% Complete]
Wayne looked up to find himself back near Chinatown, just one block away from Mike's tent.
The surrounding streets were still filled with tents and homeless people who had just taken enhancement drugs, striking poses amid the litter and filth.
But now when Wayne looked at these street people, he saw them in a different light.
The gangs had taken over basic governance in these decaying neighborhoods, and these homeless individuals were far from the "simple" folks he'd initially thought.
Many among them were gang informants.
It made sense - many of them got their enhancement drugs from the gangs, so naturally they served as their eyes and ears.
From the beginning, the Latino Gang had never intended to let him go. Even now, temporarily allowing him to leave was probably only because Big Daddy Juan needed to deal with that phone call and the DEA informant situation.
Whether he could earn enough money or not, there was only one final outcome waiting for him.
One week...
He had to become stronger within this week, at least strong enough to break free from the Latino Gang.
Or make Big Daddy Juan history...
He casually stored the bag of walnut-sized metallic apples in his storage space as a wave of hunger washed over him.
Thinking this through, Wayne led his dog Wick through the needle-strewn, garbage-littered streets, passing tents and homeless people in bizarre poses as he headed toward Mike's tent.
[You discovered an Aberrant Goblin]
[You discovered an Aberrant Two-Headed Ogre]
[You discovered an Aberrant Orc]
[You discovered an Aberrant Eastern Fallen Dark Elf]
As he walked, lines of text continuously appeared before Wayne's eyes.
The street people's poses were each their own form of art, even impressing the system with their creativity.
By now he'd basically figured out the system's classifications:
White people were classified as Orcs, Black people as Goblins, mixed-race Latinos as Two-headed Ogres, and Asians as Dark Elves.
[You discovered the corpse of an Aberrant Orc]
The notification suddenly changed, making Wayne's eyes light up as he looked toward the side.
There, two men and one woman - all homeless - were closely guarding a corpse wrapped in a blanket, suspiciously watching their surroundings as if protecting a treasure.
They were waiting for the Corpse Collector to arrive.
Noticing Wayne's gaze, all three immediately became alert.
The corpse had been disguised as someone sitting and sleeping, clearly requiring some effort to set up.
Wayne only thought for a few seconds before suddenly stumbling, as if he'd just taken enhancement drugs, staggering over to the corpse. He laughed loudly while grabbing the corpse's hand, coughing as he spoke:
"Cough... Hahaha, it's you! William! Cough... Oh, my old friend, what are you doing here?"
His movements immediately aroused the suspicion of the three homeless people. The black woman with bloodshot eyes nearby shoved him to the ground and shouted roughly:
"Get lost! There's no William here. This is Alex, and he's sleeping!"
Seeing this, the puppy Wick immediately positioned himself in front of Wayne and barked fiercely at them.
Wayne got up, shrugged, and patted Wick's head, saying:
"Sorry, I mistook him for someone else."
Then he continued walking forward.
[You have acquired General Practitioner (Intermediate)]
A flood of memories about being a general practitioner surged into his mind, causing Wayne to pause in surprise.
It seemed this deceased homeless man had once been a general practitioner.
According to American medical regulations, seeing a doctor first requires making an appointment with a family doctor. If the family doctor determines you need hospital care, they'll help you schedule an appointment with a hospital's general practitioner. If the general practitioner can't handle the case, they'll refer you to a specialist.
The waiting time for this process can range from several months to years.
This homeless man had been such a general practitioner.
Just then, another line of text appeared before his eyes:
[You have acquired five skills. Skill Fusion is now available]
Seeing this, Wayne's eyes lit up.
A fusion array-like pattern appeared in the skills section of his panel.
There was one main slot surrounded by five secondary slots.
He could place one skill in the main slot and use other skills as fuel in the secondary slots. By burning certain skills, he could enhance another skill!
This was truly valuable.
If he could upgrade a skill to master level, earning money would become much easier.
But there was no need to rush for now.
As he was thinking this, he had already arrived at Mike's tent. From a distance, he could see Mike anxiously standing at the entrance making a phone call.
"Ahem... Mike, brother." Wayne called out.
Mike, who had been on the phone, suddenly turned around. The moment he saw Wayne, his face lit up with joy. After saying something into the phone, he hung up and rushed over to give Wayne a tight hug, exclaiming happily:
"God, brother, you're alive! Thank God! You've returned safely!"
The tent flap opened, and David, hearing the commotion, rushed out as well. With a happy expression, he gave Wayne a hug:
"Thank God you're back, brother. Mike was even preparing to work for the Blood Gang to rescue you."