Taoist priest goes to America

Fineria walked ahead, her steps light and quick.

She stepped aside as she pushed open the apartment door, gesturing for Ang Lee to go in first.

Upon entering, Ang Lee saw a huge foyer with white tiles on the floor and several simple paintings on the walls, all depicting abstract geometric lines.

The staircase is on the left side of the foyer, its wooden handrail polished to a shine, gleaming under the warm yellow wall lamps.

The air was filled with a faint fragrance, clean and crisp, a completely different world from the smell in the previous rented room.

There was an elevator at the end of the corridor. Fineria pressed the up button, and the elevator doors opened.

"This entire building is mine," she said casually. "Five floors, you can pick any room you like."

"The third floor, I guess." Li An pondered for a moment and then chose a room.

"The third floor? You can't see the whole artificial lake from there," Fineria said. "But it's quiet on the third floor, and you won't be disturbed."

As she rode the elevator, her light brown curly hair swayed slightly over her shoulders, and Ang Lee followed behind her, watching.

The elevator rose with a slight tremor and reached the third floor.

The door opened, and the third floor was quiet. The corridor was covered with a red short-pile carpet, and the light from the streetlights outside shone through the glass, casting a small, pale yellow area of ​​light on the carpet.

Fineria stopped in front of the door on the left, took out a bunch of keys from her pocket, picked one out, inserted it into the lock, and turned it. The door opened.

The room was much larger than Ang Lee had imagined. The living room floor was covered with light-colored wooden flooring, and the walls were painted off-white.

The linen curtains were half-drawn, and through the floor-to-ceiling windows, one could see the lawn and streetlights below.

The living room has a dark blue fabric sofa and a light wood coffee table. Next to the sofa is a desk with a neat and tidy surface.

The kitchen is open-plan, with a gleaming stainless steel stovetop, white quartz countertops, a built-in refrigerator and oven, and very clean cabinet surfaces.

The bedroom area was separated by a light-colored screen, and the blankets on the bed were neatly folded.

"The water heater is in a cabinet next to the kitchen, and the water temperature is stable, without sudden changes in temperature."

Fineria leaned against the edge of the kitchen counter, her arms crossed. "The fridge is empty. The supermarket is a five-minute walk from here, and there's a Chinese restaurant that's open all night, but the food is so-so."

Her gaze followed Li An. When he put down the body bag, she glanced at it but didn't ask what was inside.

"The washing machine is in the basement, it's a shared one, but there aren't many people there at that time. You can wash your clothes whenever you want."

Ang Lee picked up the body bag from the floor next to the sofa, straightened up, and looked around. "How much is the rent?"

"Let's talk about it tomorrow... You should get some rest tonight." Fineria winked at Li An from beside the kitchen counter.

"Can I have the key?"

Fineria shook the keychain in her hand, took one of the keys off the ring, and handed it to him.

"I'll get you the access card for the third-floor hallway tomorrow."

When Ang Lee took the key, her fingertips touched his fingers, and she scratched him again, a little more noticeably than she had at the door. She rubbed her thumb against the back of his hand before letting go.

She looked at him with an undisguised admiration, as if he were looking at an object that belonged to her.

Ang Lee put the key in the inside pocket of his coat. "The room is nice."

"Aren't you going to ask anything else?"

"I've asked everything I needed to ask."

Fineria chuckled. "You really don't talk much." As she spoke, she picked up a glass from the kitchen counter, filled it with water from the tap, as if trying to subtly prolong the time she spent with him.

She took a sip, put the glass down, and then wiped the remaining water stains on the rim of the glass with her fingertip.

"It's getting late," Li An said. He took a step forward and opened the door.

Fineria looked at him, as if waiting for him to say something else, but Ang Lee didn't say anything more.

She waited a moment, then put the cup down, leaving a damp mark on the rim with her fingertip. "I'll make coffee tomorrow morning; you can come down for a drink."

Ang Lee nodded. "Okay."

"Okay. Get some rest." Fineria turned and walked towards the door, but paused at the door frame and glanced back at Li An.

"If you need anything tonight—" she patted the wall behind the door, "I live on the second floor, just knock."

"understood."

After she left, Li An closed the door behind him. The lock clicked shut.

Ang Lee stood there for a while, listening to the footsteps coming down the stairs in the corridor, and then he sat down on the sofa.

The body bag was placed next to the sofa armrest. He untied the knot at the top, pulled the bag open, and revealed the head of the corpse.

The face was almost bloodless, and the eyes were closed. Ang Lee removed the body bag from the corpse and laid it flat on the floor.

He squatted down next to the corpse, took out cinnabar and yellow paper from his inner pocket, picked up a pinch of cinnabar, crushed it on the paper, heated it with a lighter, and then placed it on the corpse's forehead.

After he finished drawing the talisman for raising the corpse, he pasted the yellow paper on it.

[One intact human corpse has been detected. Initiate the corpse transport procedure?]

"start up."

The man stood up straight from the ground. When he stood up, his back was hunched and his shoulders were slightly turned inward, as if he had developed a habitual posture from years of working at a desk.

[Corpse transport successful, Corpse Servant +1, Current Corpse Servant Count: 4/5.]

[Analyzing the body's data before death... Analysis complete.]

[The deceased's former identity: Ren Jianhua, software engineer. With over fifteen years of professional experience, he worked for several small and medium-sized technology companies, primarily engaged in backend system development and database maintenance.]

[Behavioral characteristics before death: High level of focus at work, rigorous logic, and a habit of breaking down complex problems into manageable modules. History of long hours working overtime and chronic liver dysfunction.]

[Acquireable skill (choose one of three, permanently bound to the host)]

【Skill 1: Logical Decomposition (White)】

[Effect (Active): When dealing with complex information and logic, the host can proactively break it down into many interconnected sub-options and identify key nodes.]

This capability is applicable to scenarios involving analysis, thinking, and strategy formulation, improving processing efficiency by 50%.

[Note: The effectiveness of this skill will be significantly reduced when the user experiences significant emotional fluctuations. Prolonged use may lead to mild mental fatigue, manifested as decreased concentration and reaction speed, which requires sufficient rest to recover.]

It does sound useful; it can break down complex information and logic, so at least in the future, we won't be caught off guard by loopholes in any US health insurance contracts.

However, in a state of high emotional fluctuation, the effectiveness of logical decomposition will be reduced, and it will not play a significant role in combat.

Ang Lee scrolls down to the second one.

[Skill 2: Memory Recall (Gray)]

[Effect (Active): The host can retrieve specific information from memory fragments (such as previously seen faces, words, routes)]

[Precautions: Temporary memory lapses may occur after use; some recent information may be suppressed, specifically manifesting as forgetting events from the past few minutes, which usually recovers within ten minutes.]

Frequent use over a long period may lead to corruption of the long-term memory block index.

This is even more humorous. As expected of a skill with a gray quality rating, its effect is simply to retrieve fragments of memory, but the side effect is that it causes temporary amnesia, making it impossible to remember anything for several minutes.

Get lost, what the hell is this?

【Skill 3: Code Psychic (Blue)】

[Effect: The host can "communicate" with anything that has programmed code, including but not limited to computer programs, access control systems, security networks, and electronic devices.]

The host can understand the system's operating logic and find its vulnerabilities or bypass methods by communicating with the code.

[Note: This skill only applies to systems with code; it is ineffective on purely mechanical or physical devices.]

[When confronting advanced encryption or AI protection systems, the host needs to expend a significant amount of mental energy.]