Tang An, who had only walked a few steps, stopped once again.
"Auntie, are there anyone in your village named Zoro, Nami, or Usopp?"
Tang An did not mention Sanji's name, as Sanji could currently be with Red Leg Zeff on some isolated island or at a floating restaurant.
"I haven't heard of Zoro or Nami that you mentioned, but we do have an Usopp here. However, that fellow is just a kid who loves to lie because his mother passed away."
"Auntie, I was once saved by Yasopp. Can you tell me where Usopp lives? I promised Yasopp that I would definitely visit if I had the chance in the future."
Tang An smiled very gently. What a pleasant surprise!
"No wonder you know Usopp! It turns out it's because of that man Yasopp, who abandoned his wife and child!
Go straight along this path, and at the third fork, you will see a small path leading up the mountain. Walk for about five minutes, and the house you see is it."
"Many thanks, Auntie."
Tang An thanked her once more, turned around, and left.
Following the auntie's directions, Tang An walked to the third fork, then followed the mountain path. After about five minutes, he saw a very dilapidated house.
The exterior and interior both exuded an aura of poverty.
"Knock, knock!"
Tang An stepped forward and knocked directly on the door.
"Who are you?"
The rickety door opened, and a six or seven-year-old child poked his head out, his long nose extremely eye-catching.
"Your name is Usopp? Is your father Yasopp?"
Tang An smiled, although he had already guessed this was Usopp, he still needed to confirm it.
"How do you know my father?"
Usopp's eyes lit up.
Yet what answered Usopp was a dark, hollow muzzle. Accompanied by brain matter and blood, fear filled Usopp's eyes.
"Let's go!"
Tang An did not expect it to go so smoothly.
Without even glancing at Usopp lying in a pool of blood, he turned around and walked back.
He brought up the light screen, which already displayed the text indicating that the important supporting character Usopp had been killed.
Behind him, Raphael shuddered violently. Looking at the scene inside the house where brain matter and blood were splattered all over the floor, he simply could not understand why Tang An had done this.
Wasn't he acquainted with the kid's father?
They hadn't even exchanged four sentences before he blew his head off with a single shot.
And he was just a child.
This ruthlessness was even more vicious than Bluejam.
"You back so soon? Wasn't Usopp home?"
Passing by the vegetable patch again, the woman was wiping away sweat and looked somewhat startled to see Tang An and Raphael return.
"We've already seen him. Many thanks to Auntie for pointing the way earlier."
Tang An still smiled, and after finishing his words, he left the same way they came.
"Truly strange."
Watching Tang An and the other two leave, the woman muttered to herself and then went back to her busywork.
Before long, the pirate ship set sail once again.
From going ashore to deal with Usopp and leaving, not even an hour had passed.
The entire operation was as crisp and neat as flowing water, with a man who was vicious and economical with his words.
This was a ruthless person devoid of emotion.
"Successfully hunted down the important supporting character Usopp from the One Piece world. Reward dice rolls based on circumstances. Congratulations on obtaining three chances, Luck value +1."
Looking at the explanation on the light screen, there was not the slightest difference from killing Portgas D. Ace, other than the changed name.
Tang An, already familiar with the process, began rolling the die.
The front of the die showed a three, and the model airplane rumbled and jumped three spaces. Tang An did not use his Luck value.
The familiar light vanished, and an item appeared before Tang An's eyes, accompanied by a description.
"A bottle of expired Lao Gan Ma."
"Description: Lao Gan Ma is made from peanuts, chili peppers, Sichuan peppercorns, rapeseed oil, garlic..."
Tang An's face turned quite dark. He had nothing to say about drawing a bottle of Lao Gan Ma--after all, having a mid-stage cancer turn into late-stage cancer was already a precedent. But what the hell did "expired" mean?
"Hoo..."
His heavy breathing gradually steadied; he had already developed a calm mindset.
For the second die roll, the airplane jumped four spaces.
Tang An frowned and still chose not to use his Luck value.
The familiar light vanished, and Tang An's breathing grew heavy once again.
"Sunflower Manual."
"Description: To practice this divine art, one must first castrate oneself... Can be comprehended without barrier in any world."
Damn it.
Tang An simply could not help himself.
He quickly moved to the next step. The die landed on a five, and the model airplane rumbled across.
"Do you want to use your Luck value?"
As the Luck value was applied, the light flickered for a moment.
Tang An's originally ashen face immediately returned to normal, faintly carrying a hint of excitement.
"One of the Six Powers: Shave."
"Description: One of the Six Powers from One Piece. Within an instant (0.36 seconds), steps on the ground dozens of times at high speed to generate explosive reactive force for high-speed movement."
"Do you wish to learn?"
"Learn, learn!"
Another skill-type reward, and it was even the Six Powers technique, Shave, from One Piece.
How could Tang An not know the power of the Six Powers?
Especially this Shave; whether for offense or escape, it was top-tier.
Reaching the ultimate depth of mastery was no different from teleportation.
An unusually familiar epileptic spasm began to twitch. With one final shudder, knowledge and techniques regarding Shave appeared in his mind.
The excited hormones gradually faded, and Tang An's expression slumped.
Just like the elementary Military Combat Technique, he still needed to practice step-by-step on his own; he didn't master it instantly.
This dog-water cheat was as useless as ever.
Not even a single shortcut was provided.
Wouldn't it be great to directly achieve mastery of the divine art?
Why must everyone live life so bitterly?
Over the past two days, simply practicing the Military Combat Technique and doing various push-ups, sit-ups, and the like had exhausted Tang An to death.
Now he had to add Shave on top of that. Could he catch a break?
This meant the sweat and blood that needed to be shed were still there; the only benefit was that he was given a manual.
"It seems grasping destiny is not so simple."
Tang An was not frightened.
Compared to his past life where even hard work was useless, at least in this life, as long as he worked hard, he would reap rewards.
He, Tang An, had even experienced suicide; was he afraid of shedding blood and sweat?
Looking at the light screen, Tang An arranged all his items.
So far, he had rolled the die a total of ten times.
A Type 92 pistol, ten bullets, one of which had already been used. Mid-stage cancer turning into late-stage cancer. 60ml, sold for 110,000 Berries. Online card-dealing advertisement. Skill type: Elementary Military Combat Technique. Random teleportation +1. A horse. A bottle of expired Lao Gan Ma. Skill type: One copy of the Sunflower Manual manual. Skill type: Six Powers Shave.
Overall, there were both good and bad aspects; he completely failed to fathom the routine of this useless cheat.
It seemed anything could be inside those blank squares, both within expectations and beyond them.
If he relied solely on a natural month to earn a single die roll, he probably couldn't reach the pinnacle of life even until death.
After all, the probability of drawing good things was too low.
Only by completing continuous missions--hunting down Children of Destiny, fated villains, transmigrators, reincarnators, returners, or important supporting characters/supporting villains--was there a possibility of reaching the pinnacle or growing stronger.
This was a shortcut.
However, Tang An had seen many conspiracy-laden cheats in stories; was his own useless cheat safe?
Actually, Tang An had tested it many times.
Unfortunately, this useless cheat was as good as dead; it felt like a simple, easy-to-understand Ludo mini-game.
Regardless of whether there was danger or not, he still had to keep his guard up.
Perhaps training those skills step-by-step with his own sweat and blood wasn't a bad thing. In case the useless cheat had issues in the future, or left him, he wouldn't end up stripped of everything and left with neither person nor wealth.
Thinking about it this way, his previous bad luck seemed to have vanished.