Li Ke returned to the store with a dark face. Kiri also suppressed her smile, because the oppressive atmosphere around Li Ke was incredibly tense, so much so that Kiri felt Li Ke might go crazy at any moment.
However, she would still occasionally manage a smile to ease her cramping stomach.
But once inside the store, Kiri's smile vanished completely.
Looking at the M60 machine gun she now held, and then at the metal axe Li Ke held, Kiri couldn't help but fall silent.
She looked at Li Ke, then at the motionless, statue-like merchant, and couldn't help but ask.
"Do you two have a grudge?"
Besides a grudge, Kiri couldn't imagine what else could explain such a stark and different treatment between the two.
"In a sense, yes."
Li Ke glanced at the merchant. He was certain she didn't have a soul, and the reason was simple.
Tsunade and he had no emotional connection, yet both generated energy points, albeit small ones.
However, the female merchant was the only exception; after all this time, he hadn't received a single energy reward. This was enough to show that the female merchant was devoid of emotions.
After all, his bad luck wasn't just due to the mission rewards; there were other factors involved.
"But let's not talk about that. It's not important. Even if I'm unlucky, you still get good stuff, right? The key is whether you get skill points?"
Li Ke was more concerned about this. Compared to the elusive and unchangeable luck, Li Ke cared more about this now.
"Hmm? I did get some, but only a little. Is it because I shared the rewards?"
Kiri scratched her head somewhat embarrassedly.
"Hmm, that's not the case. I get one point each, whether I do it alone or together. Besides, the tasks here seem to have shared attempts; the tasks she posted aren't calculated individually, but there's only so many. So it seems that doing tasks in a team is the most cost-effective."
Li Ke took a deep breath and then intercepted a level one task.
"Alright, let's continue doing tasks!"
It's not that he's unlucky! It's definitely because he hasn't done enough tasks!
That's right! Definitely not enough tasks!
Seeing Li Ke's suppressed emotions, Kiri cautiously followed him, and then…
Ten minutes later, Kiri looked at the silent Li Ke, her forehead covered in cold sweat. It wasn't just because Li Ke was no longer getting skill point rewards from level one tasks, but also because…
She got another M60 machine gun, while Li Ke still only got some strange things.
For example, a book.
But the other rewards were even more pathetic; the other reward was just a nail.
Kiri was genuinely afraid Li Ke would snap at her.
"Um, I think my luck is conserved, so I'm bound to be unlucky in some places. Look, I was born in a lawless zone, wasn't I?"
She tried to find something to comfort Li Ke, but he simply took the M60 machine gun from Kiri's hand and began firing at the merchant in front of him.
The clanging of bullets rang out, the flashes of muzzle light reflecting off Li Ke's face. Most terrifyingly, the merchant's face remained smiling, and none of Li Ke's bullets penetrated her defenses.
"Phew..."
After emptying a magazine, Li Ke finally let out a long sigh, then smiled and accepted the mission again.
"Alright, I'm fine! Let's continue!"
Kiri, who had been pressed against the wall to avoid being hit by stray bullets since Li Ke started firing, nodded as he walked out and carefully followed him.
And then…
It was Li Ke's luck that Kiri displayed in a spectacular fashion.
The quests Kiri started yielded plenty of food and parts, even perfectly intact workbenches.
The quests he started, on the other hand, spawned rooms that were, while not exactly deserted, were incredibly barren. In fact, in several rooms he had visited before, after Kiri started quests, he found several spears inside.
So, when he met Tsunade at noon, Tsunade saw a completely blank-faced Li Ke.
"What's wrong with you?"
Tsunade looked at Li Ke, who seemed to have lost all hope, and couldn't help but ask.
It wasn't that she cared so much about Li Ke, but rather that his current state didn't seem right, and it filled her with fear.
Although she could still easily slap Li Ke's head and spin it dozens of times across his neck, fear was fear, and it was irrational.
"It's okay, but could I borrow your lap?"
Li Ke was truly exhausted. He had never imagined that the reason he and Erina had endured such a difficult life was because...
Because of his bad luck!
"Huh?"
Tsunade looked at Li Ke with an expression of utter disbelief, involuntarily putting her hands on her hips.
"Don't think that just because you've had sex with me, you can do anything strange with me, or that anything strange will happen! Even if we go to the hospital right now to verify, I, Tsunade, am a woman who hasn't done anything!"
Tsunade bluntly stated her advantage: she didn't want to develop any feelings for Li Ke.
Because it was simple; they were from different worlds. Although it was her first time, she wouldn't like being with anyone else right now.
Besides, Li Ke wouldn't go to that world with her. No, or rather, they were destined to be separated. So, the best relationship was for them to help each other out, without adding any more strange labels.
"I'll buy you a drink."
Li Ke pulled out a bottle of beer he'd scavenged from the room, placed it in front of Tsunade, and then spoke with an excuse even a child wouldn't believe.
"Besides, this is for emotion. You don't really want me to do 'that' to you dozens of times, do you? Let's drink some beer, cultivate some 'emotion', and maybe I can accumulate more 'energy' each time we do it. After all, this requires emotion."
Li Ke himself didn't believe what he said, but he felt a pang of irony.
The cheat ability, which requires the most emotional investment, had to be used on a pair who didn't want their emotion to be entangled with each other.
"Are you serious?"
"Seriously."
"Okay, but remember, I'm only doing this because of the beer."
Looking into Li Ke's eyes, Tsunade still felt a pang of reluctance, so she simply laid out a layer of wooden blocks on the floor and sat cross-legged on them.
She hadn't wanted to, because even her former lover, Kato Dan, had never done this, and having Li Ke do it made her feel guilty. But seeing Li Ke's pitiful eyes, Tsunade's heart softened.
"Thank you."
Li Ke took out the beer and walked over. Tsunade didn't stand on ceremony, taking the beer and food Li Ke offered, then ignoring Li Ke and starting to drink herself.
But she still offered her legs to Li Ke.
"Speaking of which, Erina has never let me rest my head on her lap?"
Muttering these words that annoyed Tsunade, Li Ke lay down on Tsunade's lap and looked up at the blue sky…
There was no blue sky.
What Li Ke saw was something quite plump, the kind that could invigorate one's spirits—round, soft, and fragrant.
It was only when he saw this that Li Ke finally felt much, much better.
"You know what?"
"I have no interest in listening to your complaints."
"I just realized I'm really unlucky. Erina and I have had such a miserable time, we almost died several times. Maybe it's because of me. It makes me so sad."
Tsunade didn't speak, because she shared the same problem as Li Ke.
Li Ke wanted to wallow in self-pity, but Tsunade's swaying beauty and snow-white skin made it impossible for him to remain calm. So, looking at the sky, he while lay down on Tsunade's lap, unconsciously reached out, and grasped her full breasts from below. Then, he squeezed them.
Tsunade, who had initially been touched and moved, suddenly felt a surge of embarrassment and annoyance that traveled from her chest to her heart, and then to her forehead.
"But you don't seem unhappy at all!"
She practically gritted her teeth as she said this, while Li Ke, while reaching inside her clothes, retorted with an air of nonchalance. "What man would be upset by something like this just because he feels bad?! Even if I'm having the worst luck, as long as I have something like this to rub, I'll be happy!"
He meant it!
Feeling down? Rubbing her nipples will cheer you up!
He wouldn't say something like that unless he was in a somewhat despondent situation!
But on the other side…
Kiri, while diligently fixing something nearby.
She suddenly had a bad feeling.