What the hell is the "kill line" when you're in America?

Li Ang returned to his apartment.

He simply stood quietly in the center of the living room, closed his eyes, and immersed himself in the subtle and strange rhythm within his body.

【Ever-changing】

The skill description is concise: It dilutes the host's presence, turning them into dust, merging into the sea of ​​people, like a drop of water returning to the ocean, leaving no trace.

He walked to the full-length mirror.

The face reflected in the mirror was still that familiar Eastern face, with black hair and black eyes, and the features had not changed at all.

However, when his gaze met his reflection in the mirror, a strong sense of alienation arose spontaneously.

The person in the mirror seems to be just a simulated image made of light and shadow, an empty shell with only form.

He tried to concentrate and meet those eyes, but his gaze kept slipping away and going out of focus, as if the face itself rejected any form of gaze and there was no focal point that could hold his gaze.

He raised his hand.

The person in the mirror also raised their hand.

The movements were perfectly synchronized, without the slightest delay.

But he just felt that it wasn't him.

Li Ang stepped out of the apartment; he had to personally verify the true effectiveness of this ability.

The street downstairs was bustling with traffic and crowds.

A boy carrying a rugby ball was laughing and joking with his friends as he ran towards him.

Li Ang stood still, motionless.

The boy seemed not to see him at all and rushed straight towards him.

Just as they were about to collide, the boy's body instinctively veered to the side, his shoulder barely grazing past Li Ang's body.

The boy didn't turn around, and didn't even utter a subconscious "sorry."

He laughed and joked as he continued chasing his companions in the distance, as if he had just brushed past a wisp of air.

Li Ang walked into a coffee shop.

Behind the counter, a young female employee was busily working.

Li Ang stood in front of the bar.

The girl's gaze swept lightly across his face without lingering, then moved past him to give a professional smile to the ladies queuing behind him.

"Hello, what would you like to order?"

The woman placed her order, the girl made the coffee and handed it to her, then once again ignored Li Ang and looked at the next person in the queue.

From beginning to end, she seemed never to have noticed his presence.

It was as if the place where Li Ang stood was completely empty.

Li Ang walked out of the coffee shop.

Stepping out of the coffee shop, Li Ang finally understood the strangeness of this ability.

This is not invisibility at the optical level, but rather a cognitive process that quietly erases the concept of "him" from the consciousness of others.

People can "see" him, but they cannot "know" him.

He was like a tree, a stone, or a fire hydrant by the roadside; you would pass by him every day, but he would never leave a trace in your memory.

This feeling reminded him of a high-level concealment technique in the cultivation world called "Hidden God in Heaven".

However, that kind of technique requires a massive amount of spiritual energy.

Now, it has become a passive skill.

Li Ang wandered aimlessly through the streets.

He walked through the crowd, and no one made way for him.

He stopped at the intersection waiting for the red light. People around him were talking or looking at their phones, and no one noticed his presence.

He was like a ghost walking among humans, detached from this world.

Unbeknownst to him, he had walked to the same neighborhood where he had met Mike before.

The situation here is worse than the last time I saw it.

Along the streets, the "tent communities" built with waterproof tarpaulins, cardboard, and discarded wood have expanded.

More homeless people gathered here.

Li Ang walked among them.

No one looked up at him.

The homeless people, some lying down and some sitting, with empty eyes, ignored him.

He saw two policemen chasing away an elderly man begging in front of a convenience store.

The police officer acted roughly, kicking over the paper cup in front of the old man that he was using to hold money.

"Get out of the way, you old man! Don't get in my way!"

The police officer's words were dismissive and full of impatience.

The passersby around were in a hurry, and no one stopped.

The people inside the shop just watched indifferently through the glass window.

It all seemed perfectly natural.

He took a few more steps forward.

He saw a mother holding her child.

The woman was young, but her complexion was sallow and her lips were chapped.

She was kneeling next to a trash can full of sewage, rummaging through it with her hands.

She found half a hamburger, covered in black stains.

She carefully blew off the dirt, then broke off a small piece and put it into the mouth of the child in her arms.

The child's cries were very faint, like a dying kitten.

Li Ang's gaze was eventually drawn to a man not far away.

The man was also dressed in rags and reeked of a sour stench.

But unlike the others, he was not numb and listless; instead, he sat upright with his back against the wall, as straight as a gun.

Although his eyes were filled with fatigue, they still held an unyielding sharpness.

He cautiously scanned his surroundings.

This is completely different from the apathy of the homeless people around them.

Li Ang walked towards him and sat down quietly beside him.

The man remained oblivious, his gaze still sweeping around as if Li Ang were nothing more than a wisp of air.

Li Ang noticed a faint tattoo on his bare forearm.

Just then, a system notification sounded in Li Ang's mind.

[Task issued by: "Old Demon"]

[Mission Details: This person was once a sharp blade of the nation, but now his heart is clouded and he has fallen into the mortal realm. However, the wheel of fate turns, and karma has not yet been cleared. Let us observe his actions for one day to see if his destiny will change.]

[Task Reward: +1 freely allocable attribute point, +100 magic points]

Li Ang's eyebrows twitched almost imperceptibly.

"Old Demon"? Does it refer to a senior demonic cultivator?

There are countless people like this on this land.

Will the system classify him as a "demon"?

But from the perspective of the "kill line," the man in front of her only had slightly more vitality than the homeless people around him.

But in the end, he was just an ordinary mortal.

[Kill threshold: Low (depleted Qi and blood, exhausted)]

There was indeed a man in sight.

This person was indeed completely different from the other zombies around him.

Judging from the still-intact fierceness on his body, he is most likely a veteran who has experienced the ravages of war.

They were remarkably similar to the guards surrounding Charlie.

Perhaps it was because they were unable to escape the quagmire of postwar trauma that they were abandoned by society and ended up here.

The task only required observation, so it was quite easy.

Night fell, like black velvet, slowly covering the entire city.

The neon lights along the street lit up one after another, outlining the bustling cityscape.

The impoverished neighborhoods, however, seem like corners forgotten by the light.

Only a few dim streetlights cast a weak, yellowish glow.

A relief truck pulled up and began distributing dinner.

It's a paste-like food made by mixing mashed potatoes, meat sauce, and vegetables together.

The food was packed in white foam containers.

The homeless lined up, numbly receiving their share.

After the food trucks left, the surroundings returned to calm.

He then pulled out half a piece of dry, hard bread wrapped in newspaper from the inside pocket of his worn-out coat.

He didn't wolf it down; instead, he nibbled on it in small bites, chewing carefully.

His gaze remained constantly scanning the surrounding darkness with vigilance.

The slightest breeze or movement would cause his muscles to tense up instantly.

For example, the sound of police sirens coming from afar, or arguments coming from alleyways.

His posture, the way he eats, and his habits of observing his surroundings.

Everything bears a deep, ingrained military imprint.

Li Ang sat quietly beside him.

With the help of the [Ever-Changing] skill, he became one with the surrounding darkness.

The veteran finished the half-bread.

He carefully folded the newspaper and put it back in his pocket.

Then, he stood up and stretched his stiff body.

Unlike other homeless people, he didn't find a cardboard box or a sheltered corner to lie down and sleep.

Instead, they walked deeper into the neighborhood.

Li Ang followed.

The streets are more dangerous at night than during the day.

Darkness hides all sorts of evils.

Robbery, shooting, deal...

Li Ang saw a young girl numbly crawl into a homeless man's dirty tent in exchange for an injection of ibuprofen that would temporarily relieve her pain.

These outrageous things happen on different streets every moment.

The veterans turned a blind eye to all of this.

They can always take the most direct route and avoid potential troubles.

Finally, he stopped in front of an abandoned apartment building.

The building has been burned down to a blackened skeleton, and the walls are covered with graffiti.

The veteran climbed through a broken window.

Li Ang followed him silently.

It was even darker inside the apartment building than outside.

The veteran didn't light a fire. He seemed very familiar with the surroundings and, feeling his way in the dark, made his way up to a room on the third floor.

The room was empty, with only a worn-out mattress and some miscellaneous items scattered on the floor.