The whole nation is trying to survive on the cable car; I'm choosing one of three options at ea

Upon hearing this, Su Mu's eyes lit up.

Awakening Talent?

That must be my own cheat code!

As he was pondering, three gilded cards appeared out of thin air in front of him, and then flipped over one by one.

Three options are clearly listed before you:

Option 1 (Information): Receive one piece of information randomly each day. There is a 20% chance of receiving two pieces of information and a 10% chance of receiving three.

Option Two (Personal): Permanently increase strength by 50%.

Option 3 (Construction): Reduces the time required to craft buildings, equipment, and other items by 10%.

Can't we have both?

Su Mu stared at the three options; each one seemed quite useful.

However, the "I want them all" mentality, as depicted in online jokes, does not exist here.

You need to choose carefully.

I think about it briefly.

He first ruled out option three.

In the early stages, you're penniless and have no resources. How can you build structures and equipment?

A 10% reduction in time sounds good, but with zero resources, this effect is negligible.

Moreover, according to the logic of typical construction games, the time spent on building in the early stages is not long, and this bonus will only really take effect in the mid-to-late game.

Su Mu then turned his gaze between option one and option two.

Option 2, Individual: Permanently increases strength by 50%.

It smells delicious.

But upon closer examination—he currently only has 8 points of strength, and a 50% increase would only be 4 points. 12 points of strength would indeed be stronger than he is now, but it wouldn't be a decisive factor.

This percentage-based bonus has a huge effect in the later stages, but it is far less effective than a fixed value in the early stages.

And option one...

intelligence.

He knew nothing about this place.

What's around us? What's the monster's strength? Where are the supplies located? What does the evacuation point look like?

Everything is unknown.

Having at least one piece of intelligence every day—this advantage is practically a bug in the early stages.

Even in the later stages, the value of intelligence will not decrease.

Without further hesitation, Su Mu reached out and pointed to option one.

[Selection successful.]

Accompanied by a prompt.

The gilded card instantly transformed into specks of light and merged into his body.

[Acquired Talent: Daily Intelligence]

Current Level: Lv1

[Effect: Receive one piece of information randomly each day. 20% chance of receiving two, 10% chance of receiving three.]

[Current available uses: 1]

【use or not? 】

Su Mu nodded.

[Successfully used.]

[Intelligence 1: There is a bronze treasure chest inside the convenience store in Peace Town, 22.53 kilometers from your current cable car. There is no danger nearby; you can safely collect the resources.]

[Intelligence 2: There is a silver treasure chest in the police station backyard, 27.32 kilometers from your current cable car. Please note that a Lv3 mutated creature roams this area.]

Two?

Su Mu was slightly taken aback.

With a 20% probability, how did he manage to run into it?

Looks like I'm having good luck today.

As Su Mu finished reading the data from the two intelligence reports, two green coordinates suddenly appeared in his eyes, marked in the foggy area ahead.

Although the thick gray fog was still impossible to see through, the two coordinates accurately indicated the distance and direction, as clearly as map markers in a game.

Su Mu quickly began to analyze.

First, it can be confirmed that there is a town more than 20 kilometers away.

At a cable car speed of 5 kilometers per hour, it would take more than four hours to get there. This time is within an acceptable range.

Two treasure chests, one bronze and one silver.

According to normal game logic, Bronze is definitely not as good as Silver.

However, there are Lv3 mutated creatures lingering near the silver treasure chest.

Lv3……

He didn't know the standards for classifying monster strength in this world, but since it was specifically marked as level 3 and he was only level 1, it meant that this monster was not something he could easily deal with at the moment; it was at least very dangerous.

First, take the bronze treasure chest, then observe the actual strength of the monsters there, and decide whether to try the silver one.

Su Mu quickly made a judgment.

In the brief ten seconds or so he was thinking, a notification sounded in his mind again:

[Your cable car is currently at level 1. You have been granted one of three talent choices.]

Does the cable car class count?

Su Mu's eyes lit up.

next moment.

Three more gilded cards appeared before him, but this time they were different. The second card had a flame icon with the word "lucky" written inside.

What is this? Su Mu was puzzled.

The cards then flipped over in sequence:

Option 1 (Information): Obtain a monster encyclopedia entry. Observing mutated creatures will grant a more detailed monster attribute panel, which will be automatically recorded. Attributes will slightly increase based on the progress of the encyclopedia unlock.

Option Two (Personal): Any attack you launch will target the monster's weak point. (Rule)

Option 3 (Construction): Resource consumption is reduced by 10% when crafting equipment and buildings.

rule?

Is this the difference that luck brings?

After reading this, Su Mu read the other two.

This time, Su Mu acted almost without hesitation.

Option three, construction-related, can be eliminated directly.

Reducing consumption by 10% is certainly useful, but compared to the other two options, it's clearly not enough.

Option 1: Monster Encyclopedia.

This ability is very useful. Being able to see the detailed attributes of monsters means you can judge in advance whether you can fight them and how to fight them. Moreover, the attributes increase as you unlock the monster's monster encyclopedia, making it a growth-type ability.

but……

His gaze fell on the parentheses following option two.

rule.

He had read many novels and naturally understood the terrifying nature of "rule-based" abilities.

Rules are ironclad laws, they are not subject to reason or argument.

[Any attack will lock onto the monster's weak point] - This means that even if he closes his eyes and attacks randomly, every strike will accurately hit a vital point.

There's no need to know where the weaknesses are, no need to judge the timing, and no need to even aim.

The moment the attack is launched, the weakness is automatically exposed.

This ability may not be as intuitive as directly adding attributes in the early stages, but it becomes increasingly overpowered as the game progresses.

Furthermore, the monster encyclopedia in option one states that when observing mutated creatures, a more detailed monster attribute panel can be obtained.

Does the word "more" imply that direct observation can also reveal monster attributes, albeit in a less detailed way? And what is the purpose of obtaining monster attributes?

It's about comparing and judging the strength of monsters; this simple attribute can give a rough idea.

The purpose of a more detailed analysis is to determine how to attack and what the weaknesses are.

If an attack automatically locks onto a weakness, isn't that the same as knowing it already?

Gaining information through visual observation and automatically targeting weaknesses through attacks are essentially two different things.

Su Mu reached out and pointed to option two.

[Selection successful.]

The gilded card also turned into specks of light and merged into the body.

Just like last time, Su Mu felt nothing.

It should only be revealed when encountering monsters.

Su Mu thought to himself that he could try it later when he had the chance.

After making the selection, there were still more than four hours to go before arriving in Heping Town.

Su Mu didn't stay idle; he turned his attention to the chat channel.

He has just awakened his talent, and it was an "awakening" rather than a "system binding." This means that others may also awaken their talents.

He wanted to see if anyone had information to share on this topic.

This four-hour gap is a good opportunity to gather some information from the chat channel.

Although this channel is inefficient, it's currently the only way. Just like playing a game, information acquired by one person alone can never compare to information shared by a group.

Su Mu opened the chat channel.

It's obvious that the information scrolling is much slower than before, and even the "99+" indicator is gone.

The entire channel seemed to fall into a kind of silence.

Just as Su Mu was wondering, Luo Lijun's words broke the silence:

"Those who haven't joined the team yet, join as soon as possible. In three minutes, I've decided to head out to collect supplies. Also, I have some news for you: I just had 13 points of Strength, and I've now awakened a D-rank Strength-type talent, increasing my Strength by 50%."

The channel exploded the moment the news broke.

"Awakening talent? You can even awaken talent?"

"Holy crap, I thought I was the only one who awakened it, but I didn't expect you to be one too! But I have an E-rank talent, which increases speed by 20%."

"I've obtained the D-rank Fireball spell!"

"??? Why don't I have that?"

"Boss Luo, are you going down so soon? Can't you wait a little longer?"

"Brother Luo Lijun, please mentor me!"

Luo Lijun replied, "I didn't eat breakfast today, and my hunger level is already dropping. The longer I delay, the worse my strength will be, so of course the sooner the better."

Su Mu frowned slightly as he looked at the messages.

Luo Lijun's enthusiasm is a bit too high.

Normally, if someone awakens a talent, wouldn't they hide it immediately?

This person is either single-minded or has great ambitions, wanting to use this early gap period to build their own power.

Regardless, Luo Lijun did save him a lot of trouble.

Through these discussions, Su Mu confirmed three things:

First, awakened talents are not exclusive to him alone. A certain percentage of people have triggered awakenings just like him.

Secondly, based on current discussions in the channel, the awakening rate is around 5%. Of course, it could be higher, because there are definitely many people who, like him, choose to remain hidden.

Third, his talent is different from others.

Luo Lijun's is D-rank, which is said to provide a 50% strength bonus; someone else is E-rank, with a 20% speed bonus; someone else obtained a D-rank fireball spell, all of which have a rank.

His talent, however, has no tiered classification.

Fourth, although there are no levels for the three choices at each level, you can make a horizontal comparison based on the talent levels of these people.

For example, the 50% strength bonus in option two of the first choice corresponds to a D-level talent, while the 10% reduction in time for building-related talents, which he saw in the chat, is a D-level talent with a 5% reduction, so 10% should be able to reach a C-level talent.

As for the information regarding Option 1 in the first round...

If it were to be rated, it would definitely be S grade or higher.

From this perspective, his talent mechanism is completely different from these people.

While others can only acquire one talent, he can choose one for himself and one for the cable car each time he levels up.

What does this mean?

This means that as his level increases, the number of his talents will increase, his abilities will become stronger, and the gap between him and ordinary people will widen.

But Su Mu did not drift away.

First, this regional channel only has one thousand people, and the highest talent currently displayed is only D-level. Does anyone know if anyone is hiding a higher level?

Secondly, the population of Earth is several times larger than that of his previous life's Earth, exceeding 40 billion. Even if the probability of obtaining advanced talent is only one in ten thousand, that still means four million people could acquire it.

More importantly, the people he's dealing with are most likely not these people.

The higher these people's talents are, the more terrifying the world itself will become.

Otherwise, it wouldn't be about survival...

Su Mu snapped out of his thoughts and continued to focus on the chat channel.

At this moment, Luo Lijun had already organized a group of people and was making a final mobilization on the channel.

"Ready? Let's meet at the place where we'll chat privately."

"Boss, what's going on down there?"

"Please stream! Please share!"

"Brother Luo, come back alive!"

The number of messages in the channel increased, but Luo Lijun did not respond.

Su Mu was also waiting.

He wanted to see if Luo Lijun's operation could provide any valuable intelligence.

However, just as he was thinking this—

[Announcement: In area 886 of the cable, player Luo Lijun has been killed by a Lv1 mutated creature.]

A cold voice echoed throughout the channel.

The moment the message popped up, the chat interface seemed to be paused.

Everyone was stunned.