Trickster Hunter.

Chapter 577 Drawing Cards
"Well... that night, I fell asleep while holding a picture book. In my dream, I felt like I had entered the world in the book... until two o'clock in the morning, I was woken up by a bone-chilling cold. I tried to get up but accidentally fell off the bed. The maid who was taking care of me then discovered that I had a high fever of 42 degrees Celsius and quickly called a doctor."

Bai Lingqiu continued, "The doctor gave me medicine and a fever-reducing injection, but my temperature still didn't go down... Just when my whole family was in a panic, my last remaining vague consciousness was wondering why my picture book was missing."

“A persistent high fever is a classic symptom of memetic infection,” Sun Hang said. “According to the statistics of Tian Shu Tower, more than one-third of those infected have experienced this symptom after their initial infection with the monster memetic.”

“But at that time, no one around me thought I was infected by the monster meme… After all, in my father’s opinion, I had no chance to come into contact with the monster meme, so how could I be infected by it?”

“Back then, Longcheng wasn’t like it is now, with infected people everywhere,” Bai Lingqiu’s stand-in added from the side.

"Including that doctor, they all thought I was just infected with some kind of bacteria or virus, and they didn't connect my abnormality with the weird meme at all. The doctor told my father that I might have pneumonia and needed to go to the hospital for a CT scan... But just as they were about to put me in the car, I used my ability for the first time."

Bai Lingqiu paused for a moment, then continued, "I saw this 'missing' picture book appear before my eyes, emitting a pale purple glow. The pages rustled as they turned, stopping only on a certain page. Then, I saw a bird-headed, human-bodied monster crawl out of the book and pierce the doctor's head with its long beak."

"What happens next?"

"Then I passed out. When I woke up, I found myself lying in an observation room made of one-way glass, wearing a heavy straitjacket, with many IV tubes inserted into my arms and neck, and my head covered with electrodes..."

"You were only seven years old then, right? How could you remember it so clearly?" Sun Hang asked in surprise.

“I don’t know why, but that memory is still very clear, as if it happened yesterday,” Bai Lingqiu said in a low voice. “Not only that, I also remember that bird-headed, human-bodied monster…it was the protagonist of the story I read before I went to sleep, and I also saw the monster in my dream later.”

Bai Lingqiu looked at Sun Hang, seemingly waiting for him to ask a few questions, but Sun Hang simply gestured with his chin: "Continue."

"I later learned that the monster killed four people, including the doctor, a maid, and two bodyguards. It wasn't until the group's security team arrived that the monster was killed... But what puzzled everyone was that even though my father was the closest to me and the monster, the monster seemed not to see him and didn't try to harm him at all."

"Can you control these summoned monsters?" Sun Hang asked.

“Yes, but only if I am conscious. Once I fall into a coma, the summoned monster will go out of control,” Bai Lingqiu said. “The research institute has two possibilities. One is that even if I am unconscious, my subconscious will give the summoned monster an instruction to ‘not harm the summoner’s close relatives’; the other possibility is that because my father and I are related by blood, the summoned monster will regard him as the summoner’s ‘kin’, which is why it did not attack him.”

"Can you summon it for me now?" Sun Hang asked.
However, Bai Lingqiu shook her head: "I won't use my abilities unless it's absolutely necessary." "Why? Are you worried about your identity being exposed?"

“No… because this summoning ability is completely random.” Bai Lingqiu sighed. “Before the summoned creature appears, even I don’t know what it will be.”

"Completely random... doesn't that sound like a gacha system in a mobile game?" Sun Hang paused for a moment, then said with a wry smile.

“It’s about drawing cards… Everything in this book, ‘Tales of the Strange and Mysterious in Xiazhou,’ is in this ‘card pool,’” Bai Lingqiu said. “The weakest of them is a weed with no combat power, while the strongest monster is powerful enough to destroy a city… Of course, I don’t know if the strongest monsters can be summoned, but when I use my abilities, I can clearly feel that they are also within a random range.”

"Got it, these are UR and SSR characters. They're powerful, but the drop rate is low. Normally, you'll get 9 R cards in 10 pulls. The only time you might get an SR is because of the pity system in a 10-pull. Is that what you mean?"

“There’s no guaranteed drop… but the probability of summoning stronger monsters is indeed lower,” Bai Lingqiu said. “Moreover, depending on the strength of the summoned monster, it will consume corresponding mental energy, and in severe cases, it may even cause me to fall into a coma… just like the first time I summoned one.”

Sun Hang: "Then the summoned creatures will go out of control?"

“Yes, that’s why I’m reluctant to use my abilities,” Bai Lingqiu said. “If I were to ‘get lucky’ and summon the most powerful beings from those books, I’m almost certain they would go out of control. And I don’t even want to think about the consequences of such powerful monsters going out of control.”

“That is indeed a problem…” Sun Hang nodded. “If it really comes down to the critical moment you mentioned, and you end up summoning a rock or a weed, wouldn’t that be pretty unlucky? Does your ability have a cooldown? Can you summon continuously?”

"There is a cooldown period, but the weaker the summoned creature, the shorter the cooldown period. If I only summon rocks and weeds, I can almost immediately summon them again until I summon a monster with some combat power, at which point the ability will go into cooldown."

"Uh... this can be considered a kind of alternative safety net mechanism, right?" Sun Hang muttered. "To be honest, your ability is quite interesting."

“Interesting…” Bai Lingqiu’s tone was filled with a faint sense of helplessness. “Perhaps it seems interesting to you, but for me, every time I use my ability, it’s filled with trepidation. I have no idea whether I can control the monster that is about to appear, nor am I sure what kind of destruction it will cause…”

“Using this ability in human-inhabited areas does indeed carry considerable risk. But in uninhabited areas, that worry doesn’t exist, does it?” Sun Hang said. “…Speaking of which, besides the uninhabited areas of the Hexi Corridor, there is another place that is even more suitable for your ability. Would you be interested in learning more about it?”

(End of this chapter)