151: Chapter 151 The only original sin is weakness.

Li Yangze did not like the current world...

Although he hadn't lived particularly well before the Assessment descended,

At least he didn't have to worry about the arrival of death every day...

He often heard others say that one must learn to accept and adapt to survive in this world.

But he didn't understand why he had to endure such pain.

His strength was lacking, so he wasn't favored by those adventurer teams brave enough to enter Mystic Realms.

He also understood that if he went in, he would only be a burden.

So he could only do some logistical work, setting up a stall to sell small trinkets.

His luck was also average; in the early stages, he chose a Mechanical side class, but at this stage, there was nothing for him to repair.

And his level wasn't high, the items he crafted weren't very useful, and hardly anyone bought them.

His personality was also average; when manning his stall, he didn't know how to attract customers, just sitting and waiting like a silent block of wood.

A stall fee in the South District of the Xinhuo Stronghold cost fifteen points.

A small single room for sleeping at night cost five points a day.

That was twenty points a day.

Relying on the small trinkets he sold, he could make over thirty points a day, or forty to fifty on a good day.

He could save up about ten to twenty points daily.

Li Yangze had calculated that if he saved for nearly a month, he could purchase the most basic inheritance for an Apothecary.

Even if it was just the lowest level of Apothecary, the points he'd earn from his daily stall would be more than what he was making now.

It's just... as he said, his luck was bad, and the current world was far too cruel.

Or rather, external factors weren't to blame.

Everything stemmed from the fact that he was too weak.

His hundred-plus points had been snatched away by a small gang of thugs entrenched in the area.

To intimidate the other stall owners in the trading area, they singled him out, beat him in front of everyone, and stole his accumulated points.

He also said his personality was average; he wasn't good at socializing and rarely interacted with others.

So while he was being beaten, those people just stood by and watched—watched him get hit, watched his points get stolen.

So Li Yangze didn't like this world where the strong preyed on the weak.

For someone like him to survive, the effort required was far greater than for others.

...

"Cough..."

Li Yangze coughed up a mouthful of bloody foam, staring blankly at the sliver of grayish-white sky cut into a line by the buildings above.

His body was still being dragged; the clothes on his back had long since been worn away, and the rough ground scraped against his exposed skin, stinging like fire.

"It really wasn't me..." The thought drifted muddily through his mind.

He hadn't stolen anything, nor had he robbed anyone; he just saw that there were fewer people outside and wanted to wander the trading area to see if he could find some discarded parts to assemble into trinkets to sell.

Of course, he also knew.

These two people didn't care about the truth at all.

It was just that he was an easy target, and they were bullying him.

...

He was dragged into an even darker alleyway.

At the end of the alley was a drab, low-rise building.

He was pulled into the building and stopped before a sheet-metal door.

Another person appeared in his field of vision, also wearing a silver-white badge.

From the tone the previous two used to speak to him, it was clear this person held a higher status.

The moment he saw the man, he began to struggle again, wanting to defend himself, to prove his innocence, to make the man...

But the man's gaze only lingered on his face for a second.

Then, without asking or saying anything, he simply gave a faint wave of his hand.

Li Yangze froze.

What little strength he had for struggling suddenly drained away.

How was it possible? With a frame like his, so weak, how could he be one of those troublemaking thugs?

They clearly should have been able to tell at a glance.

Two lines of tears rolled out of his eyes without warning, mixing with the blood and grime on his face as they flowed down.

He didn't make another sound.

He let the two men hoist him up and drag him toward a small door on the other side of the room.

His consciousness began to blur.

Faint sounds reached his ears, sounding like the mechanical voice of a system prompt:

[curse has been transferred]

[Countdown: 00:43:47...]

He hated this world... everyone was bullying him.

...

After entering the South District, Gu Changming released his Mental Power. His invisible perception spread out like water, sweeping across the narrow streets.

Soon, he captured his target.

At an alley corner, a man and a woman were struggling.

The woman's wrist was gripped tightly by the man. She yanked her body back desperately, her face full of terror: "Didn't we agree... to pass it to me when the time was up? The time isn't up yet...!"

The man seemed driven to desperation; his voice was hoarse, and his eyes were bloodshot.

"I'm sorry, I can't take it anymore. Thirty-odd minutes is enough for you to find the next one."

Passing it back and forth every five minutes, having to endure that sensation of approaching death every single time—he couldn't handle it anymore.

As soon as he finished speaking, he exerted sudden force, throwing the woman violently toward a nearby trash heap.

The woman shrieked, falling amidst the piled-up scrap and rotten barrels.

The man didn't look back, turning to bolt toward the other end of the alley.

The woman stumbled to her feet, looking around in panic.

The street was empty; not a soul was in sight.

Then, as if she had seen something, her gaze fixed intently on the air not far beside her, and her face instantly turned deathly pale.

She began to flee, scrambling out of the trash heap on all fours before turning to run outward.

Gu Changming watched expressionlessly as she ran out of the alley entrance.

He saw her lunging toward him like a drowning person reaching for a piece of driftwood, sobbing as her hands slapped wildly against his shoulder.

Then she continued to bolt forward without looking back, leaving behind only a tearful apology.

"I'm sorry... I'm sorry... I really had no choice..."

Watching her retreating back, Gu Changming stood in place and did not give chase.

Only after her figure disappeared around the corner did he look at the spot on his body where she had slapped him.

A faint, dirty fingerprint remained on his shoulder.

He reached out and lightly brushed it off.

Earlier, in front of Su Wan, he had hesitated; this was exactly what he had wanted to say.

The idea was good, but in execution, things would be quite different.

The plan they had formulated was to find some of the villains and criminals who had caused trouble in the Stronghold and have them bear the curse.

But... in a world like this, a world without the constraints of law and morality,

The only original sin was often just being weak.

In this Assessment, those who would ultimately die from the curse would only be the weak, those deemed valueless by their fellow humans.

This was also the origin of the Assessment's name: The Maliciously Cursed.

Malice from one's own kind, malice from the companions by one's side.

As long as you were weak, you would become the vessel for that malice and then die.

This was also why, after some thought, he hadn't pointed Su Wan toward the "Hidden Rule."

An originally innocent person being chosen by "malice" to become a sacrifice was already pitiable enough.

But to endure even more malice from one's own kind before dying—was this supposed to be the human way of survival?

Gu Changming walked over, reached out his hand, crushed the blurry figure into a ball, and then stuffed it into his mouth.

Sometimes, he also felt he was too soft-hearted.

Sacrificing a small number of people to save many more was the more rational choice.

But... who would want to be the one chosen to be sacrificed?