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

Lin Yuwei's words stuck in her throat.

She froze, her eyes wide, staring at Su Mu as if he were a complete stranger: "You... you're level thirteen? Weren't you just watching the channel?"

Before Su Mu could answer, the subsequent rewards poured in like a floodgate had been opened.

He deliberately avoided looking at the specific numbers, but the feeling of being cleansed by the system's settlement was very clear in his body.

The experience points flowed through his body like a thin, steady stream of warm water, causing his level to jump continuously in a very short time.

Two consecutive increases.

That familiar, expansive feeling made his fingers tingle slightly.

The whole world became clearer than it had been a second ago; even the faint medicinal scent emanating from Lin Yuwei seemed magnified several times over.

He subconsciously clenched his fist.

Level 18, Level 19.

And it hasn't stopped yet.

The 2% challenge reward eventually pushed him to level 19, reaching over 30% before gradually stopping.

Su Mu silently did the math in his mind.

The cable line from Japan is a major line after the merger, and its overall strength is not weak.

The experience and resources they gained in three days were definitely substantial.

Even so, the two percent experience only gave him less than two and a half levels.

"The higher the level, the harder it is to advance," he thought to himself.

But what might take others a week of grueling training, he achieved in a single challenge.

This deal is definitely worthwhile.

He looked up and met Lin Yuwei's gaze.

She was pressing her screen, her voice brimming with barely suppressed excitement: "I leveled up. I'm level eight now. Normally it would have taken at least another day or two to level up, but this reward just pushed me up there."

After she finished speaking, she seemed to finally realize something from her excitement, and looked at Su Mu again, her expression slowly changing: "Wait a minute. What exactly did you just do? How did you level up? You've been watching the channel the whole time, where did you get level thirteen?"

Su Mu thought for a moment and said, "I have a building, you know it. It's the one that spawns flying bats. When those things fly down and fight monsters, the experience points count towards my account."

Lin Yuwei was stunned: "So you just sat here and your experience kept increasing?"

"It's not as complicated as you think," Su Mu chuckled. "Once I level up, I only get 0.1% experience from low-level monsters. Those bats have low combat power, so I can only grind them down. It's like a mosquito's leg—it's slow to accumulate experience."

"Even a mosquito's leg is meat," Lin Yuwei said. "It's like you're fighting monsters 24/7, you don't have to go down there yourself at all."

Su Mu nodded, without denying it.

"So, you knew you were going to level up all along?" Lin Yuwei looked at him, suddenly gritting her teeth. "And I was just comforting you."

Su Mu coughed and said, "No, I didn't pay attention to the experience."

Su Mu wasn't lying. He left after defeating the monster, and when he returned, he encountered Ishikawa Gotoku again.

Lin Yuwei looked at him suspiciously for a while, but didn't ask any further questions.

She glanced down at her panel again, and couldn't help but smile: "I'm level eight. Today feels like a dream."

Seeing that she was happy, Su Mu didn't mention that he had already reached level nineteen.

Let her be happy for a little while longer.

He had been pursuing this woman relentlessly, and she had finally overcome a hurdle. He didn't want to discourage her at this crucial moment.

After the exchange ended.

Su Mu stood up, walked to the control panel, and washed his hands with mineral water.

The bottle of water was left there by Lin Yuwei when she was organizing supplies. He unscrewed the cap, poured out a little, and slowly rubbed his palms together to wash away the bloody smell that had accumulated during the day.

Then he brought up the three-choice option for level 18.

Su Mu stood in front of the workbench, unscrewed the cap of a mineral water bottle, poured some water into his palm, and slowly rubbed it. The water gradually washed away the bloody smell that had clung to his fingers during the day, dripping down his wrist into the small sink on the edge of the workbench.

He shook his hand and brought up the three-option selection for level 18.

Three cards floated before my eyes, their dark gold patterns flowing slowly like living things.

The first one is informational.

[Battlefield Deduction: After a battle, you can quickly review the events of the battle. During the deduction, your thinking speed increases fivefold, and you have a chance to discover mistakes you might not have noticed or hidden habits of your opponent.]

The second one is about an individual.

Before Su Mu could examine it closely, he noticed the pale gold lucky icon below the card. His breath hitched involuntarily.

[Diligence Can Make Up for Lack of Talent (Personal, Luck, and Rule-Based Categories)]

[Effect: Any activity related to personal growth, if continued, will inevitably yield results. These results will not decrease to zero with repeated attempts, nor will they be interrupted by talent limitations. This includes, but is not limited to, defeating monsters, physical training, skill practice, and honing willpower. Every effort will receive basic feedback.]

Su Mu stared at the line of text, his eyes slowly brightening.

Rules. Luck.

"Diligence can make up for lack of talent..." He murmured to himself, then repeated it again.

This thing is fierce.

Many people practice something, but eventually it becomes useless. It's not that they're unwilling to put in the effort, but that their body and soul no longer respond to repetitive tasks. That's the "ceiling."

Diligence can make up for lack of talent, but this is not the case.

It guarantees that "every effort will yield results." Even if you have to kill thousands of monsters to level up, even if you practice shooting until your fingers are numb and you can only be a tiny bit faster, even if repeated training only increases your strength a little, "you will definitely reap the rewards."

As long as he keeps moving, he will keep getting stronger.

This is practically tailor-made for someone like him who isn't afraid of hardship.

The third image was in the architecture category; he glanced at it but couldn't even remember the name. Without hesitation, he clicked on the second image.

The cards transformed into points of light and merged into the body.

Su Mu clenched his fist, feeling nothing special, but he knew that from this moment on, he would go further on this path.

Taking advantage of the momentum, he didn't wait long and immediately opened the three-choice option for level 19.

The three gilded cards were laid out again before me, each with fine golden patterns shimmering along its edges.

The first one is informational.

[Spiderweb Beacon (Information Category)]

[Effect: You can place an invisible beacon on any target within your line of sight. The beacon lasts for 24 hours. During this time, you can roughly sense the target's location and emotional fluctuations. A maximum of three beacons can exist at a time. When used on higher-level targets, there is a possibility of being detected.]

The second one is about an individual.

Berserker

[Effect: For every 10% decrease in health, your attack speed and movement speed increase by 2%. When health is below 10%, you gain an additional 15% damage reduction. This effect lasts until you leave combat.]

The third one is related to architecture.

As soon as Su Mu's gaze shifted over, he saw a very faint lucky icon pressed under the card.

His breath hitched, and he stared intently.

【Damage Transfer (Building, Luck, Rule-based)】

[Effect: Once per day, when the cable car is about to be attacked by an attack that is certain to cause fatal damage, you can choose to "transfer" the causal chain of that attack.]

After the shift, the attack's landing point, time, or target will undergo a slight change, causing it to no longer hit the cable car building, but instead hit a "selected unit" within the cable car's attack range.

The attack damage remains the same after the transfer, but the target changes.

If no target is selected, this talent will automatically expire (without consuming a use).