Lucky squatted down, studying the woman lying bare on the ground. Although her figure was worthy of appreciation, Lucky's mind was consumed with memories of how she roared and drooled over his head. He tilted his head, extending his arm to touch the serial number burned on her back.
93109
"Sounds like a door passcode to me," he withdrew his hand. "Or a prison number."
Lucky instinctively glanced up at the sky. Now that his headache had miraculously eased, he confirmed he wasn't hallucinating. That inverted city in the sky was not a fragment of his imagination. Although obscured by dense fog and smoke disguised as clouds, he could discern its distinctiveness from this part of the world.
"Heaven and Earth," he muttered, refocusing on the woman. "I guess someone took that literally."
Lucky removed his jacket and draped it over the woman's body. Then, he sat beside her, opening the book to continue what he should have been doing. As he flipped through the pages, he heard the Imp making noises.
"You'll be fine if you stay like that," he said without looking at the little trickster. "Unless you want to be buried there, then your wish might just be my command."
The Imp, regaining consciousness with its nose still stuck in the ground, froze. It sweated for the first time in its existence, shifting its eyes towards Lucky.
"Quiet," Lucky added indifferently. "I'm busy."
The Imp instinctively held its breath to avoid making noise. It observed Lucky from the corner of its eyes while slowly vanishing from sight.
"You can hide yourself, but I can smell you," said Lucky, still engrossed in the book. "Just make sure not to make the slightest noise. I'll pretend you vanished like magic."
"Kek…" the Imp frowned helplessly, giving in. It slowly reappeared in the same spot, slumping on its stomach with its nose still on the ground.
"Inventory…" Lucky hummed, growing irritated. "Invent… found it!"
Lucky was already halfway through the book before finding what he sought. Normally, he would express frustration at the hassle of finding the most important part of the book. However, completing his mission was his priority.
[How to access inventory]
Lucky raised the book closer, reading every word carefully. It didn't take long for his face to twitch when a backpack materialized beside him, just like the book had, seemingly out of thin air.
"That's it?" he gasped, looking at the book in disappointment. "I don't have to do anything? And this bag is where my inventory —"
Suddenly, Lucky's brain throbbed painfully. His vision shook like a glitch, feeling his soul almost leaving his body. His body swayed, and he lost balance, subsequently falling on his hands. Pain was something Lucky hadn't felt in a long time. This was the first, and it hurt like hell.
"Ke?" The Imp's murky pair of eyes shone with curiosity as it watched Lucky fall to his elbows.
"Argh…!" Lucky winced in pain, feeling as though his brain was on fire.
He pounded the bottom of his fist against the concrete ground, grunting through gritted teeth. The pain lasted for no more than ten seconds, but he was already gasping for air. The veins in his sclera turned red and slightly swollen. Sweat poured from his forehead and all across his body.
"Hah…" Lucky panted heavily as the pain abruptly disappeared. "That's the longest ten seconds of my life."
His eyes glinted, glaring at the book he dropped during that brief suffering. Lucky swallowed the excess air trapped in his throat, pushing himself to sit up. The pain had vanished, but his body still vividly remembered the sensation.
"So, that's what it is, huh?" he breathed out, finally catching his breath. "Once I absorb…"
Lucky trailed off, gazing at the Imp that was observing him.
'Once I absorb any information from that book, it will be engraved in my brain? Or was that my soul?' he concluded with certainty because now, he knew how to access his inventory in three different ways, with the other two options unwritten in the book.
He looked at the bag again, grabbing it weakly. He checked its contents. Nothing significant was inside.
"But if I do this…" Lucky shoved his hand inside the backpack, finding it deeper than expected. He grabbed something cold, pulling it out to reveal a liter of cold bottled water.
"Haha." Lucky snickered, gulping several mouthfuls of water to ease the remnants of heat from his body. He hissed in satisfaction, wiping his mouth with his arm.
"I guess I spoke too soon. I did need water if I go through that again," he muttered, tilting his head back with his eyes shut. He took a few deep breaths before remembering why this place was ten times worse than the other worlds he had visited.
"Is the air in that place a lot fresher?" he wondered, reopening his eyes and instantly staring at the inverted skyscraper.
"Ke…"
Lucky arched a brow, shifting his apathetic gaze at the Imp. "You want water?"
The Imp let out an irritated noise before pointing at its nose.
"Right. You won't need water." Lucky nodded, studying the small creature not far away. "Should I let you go? Or kill you? If I let you go, you might be a problem for me in the future."
"Ke!"
"No?"
The Imp nodded profusely, only to shriek as its nose hurt a bit.
"You're a trickster. Why would I believe you?" Lucky shook his head, looking away from the desperate little creature. He waited for a few seconds before sliding his eyes to the corner. "Fine. You may go. But if you pull a prank on me again, you're dead."
All Lucky had to do was stretch his body a little and grab the Imp's back. He effortlessly pulled it up, tossing it in the air as if it were nothing but a stuffed animal.
"Ke!" the Imp instinctively landed on its feet, holding its nose delicately. Yet, the man who almost broke its nose wasn't even looking at him.
"Mr. Lucky Man! Are you okay?!"
Lucky snapped his eyes up and turned his head in the little girl's direction. He couldn't see them through the fog due to the distance created by the three-headed hound.
"They don't want to kill me anymore, huh?"
Shifting his eyes to the woman lying nearby, a shallow breath escaped his nostrils.
"I guess it's only smart to stay with them until I know enough about this world and that city up there," he told himself, putting the book in his backpack and wearing it on his back. He then carried the woman in his arms, keeping the jacket over her.
When he heard Rita's voice again, Lucky followed it to meet the strangers he had encountered earlier.
Meanwhile, as Lucky walked away, the Imp stared at him. In normal situations, a creature like this would disappear and move on to its next victim. But alas, instead of doing so, it slowly became invisible and lunged forward. The Imp grabbed the zipper of the backpack, clinging to it like a keychain.