"As for my ability, it's a bit strange," Ye Pingjun said. "I thought it would let me control luck more directly, or maybe inflict misfortune on others. But I didn't expect it would evolve in this direction."

"What ability?" Ding Xun asked.

"It's called Expected Value (期望值 - Qī Wàng Zhí)," Ye Pingjun replied. "According to the system, I can alter someone's luck trajectory by influencing their expectations. I've been thinking about it for three days, but I still don't quite understand what it means."

Ding Xun stroked her chin and stood pondering for ten seconds like a wooden statue. Then, very sensibly, she decided to give up thinking and looked at Mo Bai instead, leaving the explanation to her.

Ye Pingjun's abilities were always this incomprehensible.

Mo Bai, however, had a vague idea of what the system meant. After thinking for a moment, she said, "When I first heard about your ability, I started wondering: what exactly counts as good luck, and what counts as bad luck?"

"What's there to think about?" Ding Xun said. "If something good happens, it's good luck. If something bad happens, it's bad luck."

Ye Pingjun looked thoughtful.

Mo Bai switched to an explanation that Ding Xun could easily grasp. "Take three dice. The probability of rolling triple ones or triple sixes is the same, which is 1 in 216. No matter which result you get, it's a rare event happening to you.

Suppose we compete by rolling dice. You roll triple sixes. If we're comparing who gets the higher total, then you're incredibly lucky; you've hit the jackpot. But if we're competing for the lowest total, rolling the highest number makes you unbelievably unlucky. You've just gotten the worst possible outcome.

But in reality, the dice haven't changed. So why does luck shift from extremely good to extremely bad?"

"Because of expectations," Ye Pingjun said. "If I expect the highest number and I get it, that's good luck. If I expect the lowest number but end up with the highest instead, that's bad luck."

"What does your ability description exactly say?" Mo Bai asked.

Ye Pingjun opened his system panel and read aloud:

"People must have a correct understanding of the world and should not harbor excessive expectations beyond their capabilities. When reality repeatedly fails to meet one's expectations, a person begins to feel unlucky and believes everything is going wrong. Once this mindset forms, their fortune declines, and they truly become an unlucky person.

This is a long-duration ability. As it levels up, the effect of expectations on the target's fortune will accelerate. At first, your ability may seem rather useless, but in the future, when this process can be compressed into minutes or even seconds, you will be able to strip anyone of their will to live, even including Advanced-level players and S-rank monsters."

Sheng Yan began to doze off after listening, while Ding Xun kept scratching her head, looking as if her head was itching and was trying to grow a brain.

After a moment of thought, Mo Bai asked, "Does it only have negative effects? No positive ones?"

"It does," Ye Pingjun said, "but they're much weaker. The system says it's far easier to tempt someone into falling than to guide them upward. Climbing always requires more effort. Right now, I can only target one person at a time. The negative effect lasts seven days, and the positive effect lasts 49 days." (T/N: On raw, it was 90 days here.)

"Seven days to deal with one person? Your ability is practically the same whether it evolved or not," Ding Xun complained.

Ye Pingjun gave a bitter smile. He didn't expect his ability to be so weak either.

"At higher levels, this ability will be terrifying," Mo Bai encouraged. "Imagine if you could cast it on ten monsters at once, and within ten seconds, they all lose their fighting spirit. That would be equivalent to wiping out ten S-rank monsters in one go. That's an incredibly frightening power."

"I still don't understand how this works on people," Ding Xun said.

Mo Bai explained:

"Let's say Ye Pingjun uses this ability on you.

Day one: You expect to kill an S-rank monster, but instead, it nearly beats you to death. You start feeling worthless.

Day two: You expect to slay ten A-rank monsters with a single strike, but you only kill two. You feel useless.

Day three: You're certain it'll be sunny, but it turns out cloudy. Because your expectation fails, your mood plummets.

Day four: You hope the first person you see is wearing white, but instead, they're dressed in black. You feel it's bad luck.

Day five: You want to step out the door with your left foot first, but somehow it's your right. You feel like even your body doesn't listen to you.

Day six: You wish your eyelashes were an odd number. But after counting, they're even. You start feeling like nothing about you is right.

Day seven: The entire world runs opposite to your expectations. Nothing ever aligns with your wishes. Whatever you hope for never comes true, and even when you try, things go wrong. You lose all motivation to act.

'It's going to fail anyway. I'm just that unlucky and never accomplish anything. I might as well give up.'"

"Why would I expect to beat an S-rank monster? Why would I care whether my eyelashes are odd-numbered?" Ding Xun protested. "Am I crazy?"

"My ability makes you develop unrealistic expectations," Ye Pingjun said, pointing at himself. "I'm the one who makes you think that way."

"That is terrifying," Ding Xun said after imagining it. "The victim wouldn't even realize they'd been affected. They'd just keep failing, start doubting themselves, lose all confidence, and maybe even become afraid of living."

"The problem is that the effect takes too long right now," Ye Pingjun said as he spread his hands. "Seven days. That's plenty of time for the target to realize that something's wrong. Once they notice, they can find ways to remove the negative influence. There are plenty of abilities and cards that deal with psychological issues."

"What about the positive effect?" Ding Xun asked.

"It can treat certain psychological illnesses, awaken the body's natural immunity, allow some negative statuses that medicine can't cure to heal on their own, and even help someone level up faster."

"So it's a healing ability? But it takes forty-nine days to treat one person?"

"And during that time, I can't use the ability on anyone else," Ye Pingjun added with a wry smile.

He knew that at higher levels, this ability could become powerful. The real question was whether he could survive long enough to reach that point.

Eighty-six days from now, he might already be dead in Disease Town.

"It's okay. You still have your Luck ability," Ding Xun said, patting his shoulder.

Ye Pingjun sighed. "The system says that in the face of an absolute gap in strength, luck has very little influence. My ability only works on A-rank monsters at best. It doesn't affect S-rank ones."

Everyone fell silent.

They had never seen such a seemingly useless ability.

Mo Bai spoke up. "Can't we level up quickly by constantly grinding daily instances? Is it possible for Ye Pingjun to reach the Advanced level within 86 days?"

For now, she didn't want to reach the Advanced level herself, but the others in the combat group could.

Gu Tiandong, Ding Xun, and Ye Pingjun had no real concept of what the Advanced level entailed. They had only been Beginner-level players before, and the intelligence they'd gathered only covered Intermediate-level topics. They also didn't have enough points to buy Advanced-level information.

Sheng Lei, on the other hand, had already been promoted to the intermediate level. Several of his friends had advanced to the Advanced level, so he shared some knowledge on the topic with Sheng Yan.

Sheng Yan answered Mo Bai's question: "It's like this. Grinding daily instances with existing guides only accumulates experience, points, and item cards. It doesn't level you up. Even if we grind for 86 days straight, we'd still only be Intermediate-1."

"You're Intermediate-1?" Mo Bai asked.

"Yeah?" Sheng Yan replied, as if asking, Is there a problem?

"Nothing," Mo Bai said.

They had cleared the same instance. Sheng Yan had only advanced one level, while she had jumped from Beginner-7 to Intermediate-3. Her progress was absurdly fast.

Sheng Yan continued, "To actually level up, you need to pioneer unexplored daily instances or clear forced instances. The experience from daily runs isn't wasted, though; it all counts when you level. For example, if we accumulate 300 EXP from daily runs and each Intermediate level requires 100 EXP, then after clearing a mandatory instance, I'd jump from Intermediate-1 straight to Intermediate-4.

"As for advancing to the Advanced level, three conditions must be met.

First, reach Intermediate-9.

Second, accumulate enough experience.

Third, kill an S-rank monster in a forced instance. But you don't have to do it alone since team effort counts.

My brother said the third condition can be completed in advance. If that's done, you'll naturally advance once the first two are met.

We defeated an Ultra-Star Rank monster together last time, so we've already fulfilled the third requirement. Maybe we can reach the Advanced level within these 86 days!"

He even glanced at Ding Xun, clearly implying he'd surpass her soon.

But Mo Bai only felt a headache. She wanted to grow stronger, but she didn't want to become an Advanced-level player too soon.

At the very least, she wanted to advance in a safe environment. Not in a dangerous place like Disease Town, where combat-type Advanced-level players and S-rank monsters lurked around every corner.

"I remember that nature-type players level very slowly, right?" Ding Xun said. "It took you three years to go from Beginner to Intermediate, and now you think you'll go from Intermediate to Advanced in 86 days? What a pipe dream. Reaching Intermediate-3 by then would already be considered lucky."

"Your abilities are still sealed for another seventeen days," Ye Pingjun reminded Sheng Yan calmly. "That's less time to level than the rest of us."

Sheng Yan looked at Mo Bai. "I can team up with Mo Bai for daily instances during these seventeen days."

But Mo Bai didn't want to level up too quickly. She really wanted to slow down.

After thinking for a moment, she said, "I won't be going to instances constantly. My goal is to reach Intermediate-8 or Intermediate-9 before entering Disease Town, just strong enough to be at the peak of Intermediate level."

"Why not?" Sheng Yan asked.

He was an instance-farming fanatic who had turned himself into a millionaire tycoon over three years. He couldn't understand someone who didn't want to push harder.

Mo Bai came up with a reason. "The Phantom Butterfly is still alive. When I escaped the lab, I saw it leave with us. It can freely enter other instances, including daily ones, so I'm worried it might attack you while your abilities are sealed."

"It's still alive? That persistent?" Gu Tiandong muttered.

From the day he'd met Mo Bai, she had always been troubled by the Phantom Butterfly. The monster was like a stubborn leech that refused to let go.

"It's no longer a match for us, is it?" Sheng Yan said.

Mo Bai shook her head. "Hard to say. It escaped from the Ultra-Star Rank monster. I suspect it may have fused with a part of its power and have grown stronger."

She suspected this because she herself carried genetic contamination from that monster. Fusion always leaves traces, and the Phantom Butterfly was no exception.

That day, she had tried to grab it, but it had vanished like foam. That alone suggested it had gained a new ability.

Its luck was simply astonishing.

Mo Bai thought for a moment and said, "Our goal for these 86 days is to level up as efficiently as possible. Sheng Yan can team with the rest of you, but until his abilities are restored, I won't enter daily instances with him. I don't want him ambushed by the Phantom Butterfly.

During this time, you can go to any instance freely. I'll stick to solo or duo instances to keep my party small and reduce the risk of giving the Phantom Butterfly an opening if there are too many people.

Once we've all accumulated enough experience, we'll look for an unexplored A-rank instance and try to level up before entering Disease Town."

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Mo Bai then turned to Ye Pingjun. "Since we have time, you could try using Lowered Expectations (降低期待值 - Jiàng Dī Qī Dài Zhí) on yourself to activate its positive effect. Maybe after forty-nine days, it'll bring unexpected gains."

Ye Pingjun made an OK gesture. "I was thinking of trying that."

Ding Xun and Sheng Yan were action-oriented. As soon as the plan was set, they huddled together to decide which instance to tackle.

Sheng Yan had several A-rank daily instance guides. He quickly selected a four-player instance, which was perfect for their team. He would provide the guide while the others would protect him.

Before leaving, Sheng Yan sent Mo Bai a compressed file containing all the daily instance guides he possessed, telling her to choose freely. Still, he advised her not to enter solo instances. Running into the Phantom Butterfly alone might leave her completely helpless.

Mo Bai assured him that she wouldn't take unnecessary risks.

She also borrowed the Information Extraction card from him, but Sheng Yan was extremely reluctant.

"It's just a card. Why are you so stingy?" Ding Xun complained, unable to stand Sheng Yan's dawdling.

"You don't get it," Sheng Yan said. "It's my brother's keepsake."

"But he left you a whole stack of cards," Ding Xun retorted, still brimming with envy after browsing Sheng Yan's collection.

Sheng Yan shook his head. "I don't know how to explain it. Every time I pick up this card, I feel like someone is quietly watching me. He doesn't ask for help, nor blame me. He just stands there in front of me, looking utterly hopeless. I don't want this card to disappear."

"I promise I won't use it," Mo Bai said solemnly.

Only then did Sheng Yan carefully hand it over.

After seeing her companions off, Mo Bai's expression became solemn. She opened her watch and sent a message to Mo Xiangyou.

She needed a definite answer from him.

At the same time, she intended to recruit him and make him the first member of her organization.