Whether the street is bustling has nothing to do with the size of the town, but depends on what day it is.

If it's from Monday to Thursday, after excluding the rush hours in the morning and afternoon, the street basically enters a deserted state.

However, once it's Friday to the weekend, the street starts to get livelier than any execution ground from early in the morning.

In this place where shouts are constant and people flow endlessly, three kinds of creatures thrive long-term.

The first kind is called "Merchants":

Wherever there is currency circulating, you will definitely find them, with places of activity including but not limited to mountains, lakesides, and even battlefields.

On weekends and holidays, these animals can always burst out with extraordinary stamina, the slogan of "24-hour non-stop service" is not just empty words.

Their active skill is "infinite sales," no matter how many customers show up, they cannot reduce the towering inventory by even a centimeter;

Their passive skill is "versatile," the mobile stalls selling snacks today might be selling flowers, energy pills, or even outdoor shoes tomorrow.

The second kind has the most individuals, and can be seen on any street.

"The Masses Beasts":

Their active skill is "wandering," able to stroll from the morning of a day off until the afternoon or evening, with endurance second only to the first kind.

Their passive skill is "eating melon";

When there's a commotion somewhere on the street, they instantly move there and, with magical quick hands, produce watermelons out of nowhere, entering a state of "maximum observation."

The third kind is relatively rare in number, but wherever they appear, they stand out.

"The Victors Beasts" (officially "Life Victor Beasts"):

They usually appear in pairs, with male and female individuals maintaining extremely close proximity.

Their active skill "shine," or passive skill "affection," can both create a considerable impact in an area of ten meters in radius.

These three kinds of creatures are most commonly seen on the streets.

But today is very special as a fourth kind has appeared, described in three words:

"Desperate Beasts"!

These creatures may look like "Victor Beasts" at first glance, but keen observers can discern some differences between the two, primarily in the following areas:

Are they wearing a distressed look, frowning deeply, and most crucially:

Do they have dead fish eyes?

Their active skill is "pessimism":

For every ten steps the "Desperate Beasts" take, they let out a sigh, with a probability of subtle shaking of the head accompanying individual actions.

Their passive skill is "on the brink of death":

When in the presence of disliked individuals, their health and all abilities drop to a level of "one."

From the uniqueness of these two skills, it's not difficult to discover:

"Desperate Beasts" are a rare and unique species, and in a fixed area, they may not appear for consecutive years.

However, today, because Wang Xiaole went out, this street finally welcomed the appearance of this rare creature;

The emergence of this new creature can be attributed to Charley, who has circled around Wang Xiaole's side and firmly grabbed one of his hands.

"Xiaole, shall we go play there?"

Charley had set his sights on a small stall.

The reason she wanted to go there was not because the stalls were bustling with activity; on the contrary, the stalls were so deserted that they stood out conspicuously along the street. Wang Xiaole had no interest in sightseeing now. He just glanced at the bold writing on the flag next to the stall out of politeness. He only saw the words "Semi-Immortal" and didn't bother to read any further, already having a rough idea of what this stall was about.

When Charley pulled him over to the stall and asked the seller, "Does fate count?" Wang Xiaole was having his fortune told. In other places, this behavior is often referred to as "seeking fortune telling." When it comes to fortune telling, Wang Xiaole used to occasionally have a reputable "semi-immortal" from the Eastern Continent help him assess his recent fortune.

Regarding the results of the assessments, he had a straightforward principle: believe it if the outcome is good, or dismiss it if not. As the stall owner, who had been worrying about poor business, saw a rare opportunity for a sale, a smile immediately appeared on his face.

The smiling stall owner then began to count his fingers. At that moment, the other stall vendors around looked at him and chuckled, some even shouting, "Fortune teller, you've added a new scar on your face again!" The fortune teller didn't respond. After a moment of contemplation, he informed Charley, "Fate is difficult to predict, so the fee will be higher, a total of nine copper coins."

Charley promptly took out nine copper coins and placed them in front of the fortune teller. After confirming the quantity, just as he was about to start, the people around suddenly shouted, "You must be cursing someone again!" Hearing this, the fortune teller widened his eyes and said, "Why are you baselessly tarnishing my reputation?"

"What reputation? Just the day before yesterday, I heard with my own ears you telling a customer asking about their longevity, 'You won't live through this year,' and the customer held you by the face and beat you up."

In front of the two customers, the fortune teller blushed, veins bulging on his forehead, arguing, "That's not a curse... It's a prediction! How can fortune-telling be considered cursing?" Then he muttered some incomprehensible words, like "mysterious fate cannot be changed," which made everyone burst into laughter, filling the street with a cheerful atmosphere.

Charley was not interested in the banter; he just urged, "I've paid you, can we begin now?" The fortune teller, preoccupied with justifying himself, almost forgot his most important customer. He put aside the mocking comments around him and solemnly asked Charley, "Miss, do you want to predict your fate with this young man next to you?"

"Yes."

"Okay, give me a moment." With that, the fortune teller took out a bell he carried with him and solemnly shook it a few times, muttering something under his breath.

During this time, Wang Xiaole thought to himself, "Is all this really necessary? Isn't it just making up some flowery nonsense to woo customers? Why go through all this?"

After a while, the fortune teller stopped shaking the bell and looked at Charley with intense eyes, seemingly serious. "I can sum up the fate between you and the young man in two sentences:

Petal by petal, water flows, waves do not rise from the source;

You come, I'm willing to go, two hearts not happy, it's just a scheme.

These two lines translated into plain language mean:

The two of you just don't work, it's doomed to fail, it's better to break up early!

On further thought, the meaning is quite harsh, but there's no way around it. This is the result that others have calculated, and in the end, they chose to tell the truth.

If this fortune teller were more tactful, speaking in a more mysterious and vague way that leaves people feeling confused, it wouldn't violate their conscience and could avoid damaging their reputation.

Unfortunately, this fortune teller was too honest, and didn't even notice Charley's changing expression. He still said without considering the atmosphere:

"These two lines are a bit tangled. If you two don't understand, let me explain it to you:

As the saying goes, 'falling flowers have intentions, flowing water is heartless.' Miss, although you are infatuated with this young man, in my opinion, he is not destined to be with you..."

Bang!

Considering the accurate analysis of the fortune teller, Charley rewarded him;

The reward method was to swing the whip in his hand and smash the booth in front of him to pieces.

Wang Xiaole thought that her most extreme reaction would be to smash someone's sign, but now, it seems she went too far.

This wasn't just smashing a sign, it clearly escalated to smashing the whole setup, right?

Luckily, Wang Xiaole stopped Charley in time and explained it as "nonsense from the fortune teller," extinguishing the fire in the young girl's mind;

Otherwise, the next one to be destroyed might be something else.

Undoubtedly, Charley left this time in a bad mood, moving away from the booth.

Before Wang Xiaole could be pulled away, the fortune teller stopped his savior, speaking softly:

"For saving my life, I will tell you a secret I've kept for many years. Please do not mention it to others."

Wang Xiaole didn't rescue him for the sake of a reward, but since he unexpectedly gained this, he saw no need to refuse the other's kindness.

As he leaned in with interest to hear what the other had to say, the fortune teller mysteriously uttered a sentence:

"The secret is: the Chinese character for aniseed actually has four variations..."

The smile faded from Wang Xiaole's face, replaced with a grimace.

He didn't act directly like Charley, but he couldn't help but slowly raise his right hand in a gesture more insulting than raising a middle finger.

"Disgusting!"

Wang Xiaole opened his mouth but refrained from spitting, expressing his current mood through actions and left with a hint of resentment.

His immediate reaction frightened the fortune teller, who realized:

"Why are there so many unfriendly people in this town? Staying here will surely lead to trouble. I'd better start anew somewhere else to avoid being killed in an alley one day."

With firm determination, the fortune teller decided to leave this town at the junction of the East and West and develop his business on the Eastern continent.

He wouldn't know that this decision would slightly change history in the future.

In the opposite direction of the fortune teller's departure, Charley, although not as joyful as before, still didn't seem too distraught.

Basically, every time she recalled past experiences, she would tilt her head to look at Wang Xiaole's face, using this method to calm her emotions. After a few adjustments, Charley's mood improved significantly, so she once again pointed to a new place, hoping to go there with the people around her. The commonly known name of that place is a clothing store, more precisely a "women's clothing store."