America: The Cremator

Su Long's consciousness fell back into reality from the nightmare. As soon as he opened his eyes, several lines of pale blue characters were flashing on his retina.

[Successfully burned the C-level eerie, Smiling Mother, obtaining the complete entry—Fear Awe☆; gained 10 experience points.]

[The curse from the Smiling Virgin Mary—Nightmare's Curse—★ has been removed.]

[First burning of a bizarre corpse unlocks a new feature—attribute star upgrade.]

Su Long stared at the data, and with a slight thought, summoned his attribute panel.

Ten orbs of experience points were flying around his attribute data; he had never seen so many experience points before.

Su Long quickly glanced at his current attribute values ​​and system evaluation, and began to think about how to allocate this huge sum of money.

Constitution: -3 (Weak!)

Agility: -5 (Slow as a snail!)

Vision: 10 (Spiritual Threads of Sight)

Charisma: 3 (He's a person!)

Spirit: 5 (Relatively resilient!)

If all 10 experience points are invested in Constitution, the value will rise to 7 points, and it will be impossible to reach 10 points to enter the next stage.

Furthermore, if one's physical condition changes too drastically in a short period of time, such as a surge in muscle and bone density coupled with a rapid improvement in uremia, it might raise concerns for medical experts like Stella and the Harborview Hospital.

Su Long himself had only recently left his peaceful and comfortable student life and didn't know much about survival, but he knew that avoiding being ostentatious and conspicuous was definitely not a wrong choice.

After a moment's thought, Su Long made the allocation decision.

Invest 3 points in Constitution and 5 points in Agility to completely eliminate the last two negative values.

The remaining 2 points will be invested in Spirit. In the recent battle with the Smiling Mother, he has realized the importance of the Spirit attribute.

As the 10 experience orbs quickly flew back to their positions, a warm current surged through Surong's body.

The joints no longer make a dry, grinding sound when they rotate; the muscle fibers seem to have regained their elasticity and tension; and each breath allows for a deeper exchange of oxygen.

This feeling of comfort is like someone who has stood all their life suddenly sitting on a sofa.

The effects of increased agility followed, with a significant increase in the speed of thought. The occasional sluggishness that used to occur when thinking disappeared, and every thought became clear and sharp, while the movements of the limbs became light and agile.

It seems that the agility metric includes both thinking speed and action speed.

Finally, the change in mental attributes also showed its effect; the lingering stinging sensation in the brain caused by the attack from the Smiling Mother in the dream was completely soothed.

Having finally said goodbye to all negative values, Su Long admired the new panel with considerable satisfaction.

Name: Su Long

Age: 28

Occupation: Cremator

Five-dimensional attributes:

Physique: 0 (Nothing special!)

Agility: 0 (Nothing special!)

Vision: 10 (Spiritual perception!)

Charisma: 3 (He's a person!)

Spirit: 7 (Relatively resilient!)

Entry: [Prometheus☆] [Fear and Awe☆] [Gift of Blood Rain (Broken)] [Plagued by Illness★] [Hatred of Water Rain★★]

Su Long's gaze lingered on the "Plagued by Illness" section. The previously lit black star had now gone out, and the text description below had also changed.

【Beset by illness★】

Type: Curse.

Introduction: The host currently suffers from stage II uremia, mild anemia, and malnutrition... If medication is not taken seriously, the condition may worsen.

Evaluation: A big step forward in terms of health!

It seems that improving physical attributes can indeed directly suppress the pathological state, reversing the originally fatal stage 3 uremia back to stage 2. Although medication and treatment are still needed to maintain it, at least it is one step further away from the death line.

As you move your gaze further down, a new interactive option appears at the end of the list of terms.

Upgrade a blessing affix to two stars – This requires 10 experience points to upgrade a one-star blessing affix to two stars.

Currently, the experience points have been exhausted, making it impossible to test the specific effects after star upgrade, but the existence of this feature itself implies infinite possibilities.

Su Long was quite certain that the cost-effectiveness and improvement of upgrading attributes were absolutely huge.

After closing the system interface, Su Long turned his attention to reality.

He was straddling Hannah's lap, leaning forward, his right hand still pressed firmly against the skin below Hannah's collarbone.

Hannah was already awake, or rather, she had been awake the whole time that Sulong had been staring blankly at the system panel, and had allowed himself and her to remain in this awkward position.

She seemed still immersed in the afterglow of her previous nightmare; her chest heaved violently, pressing against Su Long's palm with each thrust, sending waves of pain through her.

A warm and delicate touch.

A pair of brown eyes met Su Long's gaze, shining brightly in the dimly lit carriage.

Su Long cleared his throat, withdrew his hand, and nimbly got out of the car, standing on the wet asphalt road.

Hannah coughed lightly twice, propped herself up in her chair, wiped the cold sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand, and her eyes were still somewhat glazed.

Stella had somehow moved to the other side of the car and opened the back door.

She took off her gloves, pressed two fingers against Hannah's carotid artery, felt the pulse for a moment, and then lifted Hannah's eyelids to observe the pupils' contraction response to light.

"You've been stuck in your nightmares for quite a while, which has caused considerable damage to your brain and mind," Stella said, releasing her grip. Her tone was calm, as if she had fully assumed the role of a doctor. "But don't worry, all of this damage is reversible."

After saying that, she took a handkerchief out of her pocket and handed it to Hannah.

"Come to my house for treatment. I have a neuro-cranial magnetic stimulation device that can quickly relieve your symptoms... and save you some treatment costs."

Hannah took the handkerchief, a look of surprise and delight on her face. She clearly hadn't expected to have the opportunity to enter the private domain of this academic luminary.

"Thank you, Professor Stella!"

Su Long stood aside, watching this scene: "Since there's nothing more for me to do, I'll go back and report to my supervisor."

Stella turned around, her grey-blue eyes fixed on Su Long, observing him closely.

Su Long felt a little uncomfortable under her gaze: "What's wrong?"

Stella suddenly stepped forward until the distance between them was only twenty centimeters.

Su Long could smell a faint scent of her perfume mixed with disinfectant.

Stella raised her hands and cupped Surong's cheeks.

Her fingers were long and strong, with a cool and soft touch on her fingertips, as she gently pressed on Su Long's temples, and then checked Su Long's lower eyelids.

"You have to go too. Your mind has also been impacted by this strange force. Although you feel good now, this feeling is only temporary."

She slightly increased the pressure on her hand, forcing Su Long to look directly into her eyes: "If there is no timely intervention, the aftereffects will appear quickly, usually within three days."

Su Long frowned, pointed to his nose, and said, "Aftereffects? What aftereffects?"

Stella released her grip, took a half step back, and crossed her arms: "There are many aftereffects of mental damage, the most common of which include a crooked mouth and eyes, and erectile dysfunction?"

Surong raised an eyebrow: "Professor Stella, please, I absolutely cannot accept the second consequence."

Just then, a deep and murky roar suddenly came from afar, and a black Panda armored vehicle crashed through the rain and stopped beside the group.

The heavy hydraulic doors sprang open, and a tall woman stepped onto the muddy ground first.

Her long, golden hair was tied into a high ponytail, swinging behind her head with every movement, and she carried a cross-shaped sword wrapped in a black waterproof cloth on her back.

Two fully armed tactical squad members followed closely behind.

The blonde woman removed her tactical sunglasses, revealing a pair of sharp, hawk-like eyes. Her gaze lingered on Stella, who was covered in mud, for a moment before she pulled a black badge from the pocket of her tactical vest and unfolded it to reveal the metal insignia inside.

"I am Elena, the captain of the 'Black Chess' task force from the Weird Support Bureau. Who is the complainant?"

Stella took a step forward: "It's me."

Elena glanced at the name tag on Stella's chest, her expression becoming more serious: "Professor Stella from Seattle University, hello. Where is the C-level anomaly you described located? Could you provide us with more information?"

Surong stepped out from behind Stella, spreading his hands with a hint of regret: "I'm sorry, Captain Elena, it seems you're a step too late. That guy has already been eliminated."

Elena raised an eyebrow, and a scrutinizing look appeared in her gray-green eyes.

"Leon Sue, it's you again?"

"Did you kill the C-level anomaly?"