Chapter 702: The Lifesaving Apple

Am I always this unlucky?

Upon hearing the lazy youth's question, Li Ang's face lit up with surprise, then immediately grew serious as he hurriedly pressed further:

"Yes! My luck has never been good—no matter how well I plan, something always goes wrong during missions, and I always stumble into bizarre dangers—even watching a play can lead to an anomaly suddenly going berserk… Senior, do you have any idea why?"

"An idea… better to call it experience."

Throwing the sour apple from his hand, it struck and knocked crooked a painting frame on the wall beside the stairs; the lazy youth sighed with bitter resignation:

"If I'm not mistaken, our situations are much the same—we've both angered the World's Will and been despised by this world."

"Despised by the world? What does that mean?"

"Put simply—it means inexplicable misfortune and constant bad luck."

Glancing at the painting frame, its nail slowly loosening and tilting toward the stairs, the lazy youth pulled Li Ang forward one step and sighed heavily:

"I don't know your case, but mine is this: I revealed too much of the future, erased events that were meant to happen, and caused major deviations in the world's course—so the World's Will turned against me.

For example… you know the Aquarius Director, right? Didn't the Director tell you that my core anomaly—the pair of dice capable of calculating probabilities—was crafted for me by him?"

"He mentioned something about it…"

"If the Director told you that, he didn't just say 'something'—he must've told you a lot."

The lazy youth sighed helplessly:

"Didn't he also tell you to watch out for me, not to trust me completely?"

"Uh…"

"It's fine—the Director was right."

Amid the deafening crash of the heavy solid-wood frame falling and smashing the staircase railing, the lazy youth explained to the awkward Li Ang:

"Your revelation exposed Aquarius Director's goal. Now every branch's operating members know he plans to infiltrate the Watch Palace—but I was the first to know his goal, even the one who conspired with him. The Director was right to warn you."

"Huh?"

"Sigh… mostly it's just my own bad luck…"

After a long, weary sigh, the lazy youth muttered with a strained expression:

"After the anomaly was created, Aquarius Director asked about my ability, so I told him. He became interested and asked me to do him a small favor.

Aquarius Director's Anomaly Creation Art is extremely refined—he's supplied anomalies to countless people across the Bureau, his connections rival even Lord Taurus. When a big shot like him politely asks for your help, wouldn't you do it if you were in my place?"

"…"

If it were me… faced with a director of high reputation and status who could craft anomalies, I'd probably agree too…

"Right?" Seeing Li Ang's nod of agreement, the lazy youth grumbled:

"I was just so unlucky—how was I supposed to know a director could harbor evil intent? I agreed without hesitation, until he bound me with a forbidden-secrecy spell—only then did I realize something was wrong, but by then it was too late."

Avoiding the fallen railing and shoving Li Ang's back, the lazy youth descended the crumbling suspended stone stairs before they shattered, then grimly said:

"Aquarius Director had an anomaly ritual capable of temporarily boosting Li Ang values—he forcibly fed me a massive quantity of True God flesh, altered my race, forced me to drink his blood, sliced open my arm to stuff in his rotting flesh, and planted his shed tooth in my forehead…"

Pointing to the strange scar on his forehead, the lazy youth gritted his teeth:

"After torturing me like that, he forcibly raised my Li Ang value to nearly 70 points, then forced me to use the dice to calculate how he could replace the next Ascender and ascend to the Watch Palace.

I had no choice but to help—I raised his original 12% chance of seizing the palace to 66%. But because of that, the world despised me, and now I'm constantly struck by catastrophic misfortune… Hey! Is anyone up there? The stairs just collapsed—we can't go back!"

Unaware that the person below was the one who had destroyed nearly fifty meters of staircase, those above who heard the commotion quickly replied:

"We're working on it… How are you doing? If you're unwell, keep going down—we have the Ma Sai family's patriarch below; he can help you up. Also, here's the token needed to proceed downward—catch it!"

Amid the muffled shout from above, a silver cat-claw badge was tossed down, bounced twice amid the rubble, then landed with perfect precision in the lazy youth's outstretched palm.

"Good, I've got my badge too—let's keep moving as we talk."

Pinning the badge—retrieved by the sour apple—onto his collar, the lazy youth led Li Ang downward while explaining:

"This world favors humans. Compared to demons who turn the earth to magma, demons who prevent the sun from rising, Moon Children who hollow out the earth like they hollow out the moon, or Prehistoric Ones who wish to freeze all existence and return to the Ice Age, humans are the gentlest beings to her—and even consciously maintain her stability.

So anything that threatens humans or the world's stability, or might disrupt it, faces invisible rejection from the World's Will. But since the World's Will cannot directly kill us, it uses indirect methods: endless misfortune, to either eliminate us or drive us out."

"…"

Wait… it can really work like this?

"Don't worry—this world's disdain isn't entirely bad."

Glancing at Li Ang's startled expression, the lazy youth pulled another apple from somewhere and handed it over, his expression complex:

"The Wheel of Fate is equal for everyone—it can't stay low forever. So us unlucky ones, despised by the world, if we survive the bad luck the World's Will heaps upon us, we'll experience a sudden surge of fortune.

But after that surge comes an even fiercer fall.

While others' fates merely ripple slightly, ours are like a wave whose oscillations grow ever stronger—the rewards and dangers both escalate until, at some towering peak, we become gods beyond all, or at some fatal trough, we're swept away by sudden misfortune into the Land of the Dead."

Either "become a god," or "become a ghost"?

Feeling the lazy youth wasn't lying, Li Ang pondered a moment, then asked:

"And you, Senior? What's your current situation?"

"I can't become a god, but I can't die either—at least, not under normal circumstances."

Pointing to the apple in Li Ang's hand, the lazy youth said seriously:

"If you're willing to believe me, carry extra apples with you. When you feel your luck turning bad, eat one, then throw away the core—this thing can save your life when it matters most."

(End of Chapter)