In Anomalous Zone, the Training Grounds allowed players to test and practice their skills. They could also invite friends to train together in the same instance.

"Although I'd love to go right now, let's wait a bit. How about we have dinner first?" Su Lingyan suggested.

"Dinner first... I have a better idea. Let's order delivery now. By the time it arrives, we'll probably be done testing."

"Not bad. I'm in. Just don't lose track of time."

Su Lingyan and Bai Luoyin added each other as friends before entering the Training Grounds together.

Bai Luoyin's in-game nickname was Heroin.

Su Lingyan noticed another friend request. She glanced at it briefly and ignored it.

As soon as they entered the Training Grounds, Bai Luoyin drew a pair of daggers.

"Watch closely," she said.

The next instant, she vanished from Su Lingyan's sight.

"Hm?"

Su Lingyan blinked, and suddenly felt a cold blade against her neck.

"Don't move!"

Bai Luoyin was standing behind her, one of the daggers pressed lightly against her throat.

Knowing her friend wouldn't actually cut her, Su Lingyan simply stepped sideways to slip away from the blade before turning to face her.

"Teleportation?"

Bai Luoyin clicked her tongue, lowered her right hand, and nodded.

"That's right. My exclusive weapon is called Phase Blades. One of its abilities lets me instantly teleport within a certain range."

Su Lingyan looked at her with admiration. 

"That's such a great ability. I want one too."

"You probably say that about every ability you see."

Having known Su Lingyan for years, Bai Luoyin understood her personality all too well.

"You know me well."

Su Lingyan patted her on the shoulder approvingly.

Bai Luoyin rolled her eyes.

"Your turn."

Su Lingyan nodded.

The next moment, the muzzle of a gun was pressed against Bai Luoyin's head.

"Don't move!" Su Lingyan declared.

Playing along, Bai Luoyin slowly raised both hands.

"But seriously? You're copying me?"

"It's fun."

Su Lingyan lowered the barrel and pulled the trigger.

Bang!

Bai Luoyin froze in place for two full seconds, as though someone had suddenly pressed the pause button.

"Huh?"

She looked at the missing portion of her HP bar and the bleeding status effect.

"Did you feel anything?" Su Lingyan asked.

"I turned pain suppression on before we came in, so... not really."

"I see. Then you didn't notice."

"Notice what?"

"I stole a small piece of your time."

"Stole... my time?"

Bai Luoyin examined the two weapons in Su Lingyan's hands.

"A sniper rifle and a pistol? What's your weapon called?"

"Wheel of Time."

"Oh, so it's related to time. Then what you meant about stealing my time—that was your skill?"

"Exactly."

Su Lingyan nodded.

"I can freeze the time of anything my bullets hit for a short duration."

"Oh, that's such a cool ability."

"I~ want~ one~ too~."

Bai Luoyin deliberately mimicked Su Lingyan's tone from earlier.

"You~ can't~ have~ it~."

Su Lingyan wagged her index finger teasingly.

Bai Luoyin stared at her in silence.

"..."

"Anyway," Bai Luoyin continued, "how many skills do you have right now?"

"Aside from basic shooting, only the one I just showed you."

"Same here. We've only cleared one dungeon so far."

According to the official explanation, skills were obtained entirely through chance. There were no fixed drops, so the only way to collect more skills was to keep clearing dungeons.

Skills were divided into exclusive weapon skills and general skills. Players could equip only a limited number of general skills, while exclusive weapon skills did not count toward that limit.

The developers had also announced that some general skills would become available through the in-game shop in a future update.

In addition, Anomalous Zone allowed each person to have only one account.

Players could technically create an alternate account, but it would not possess an exclusive weapon. Furthermore, if someone other than the account owner logged in, they would be unable to use the exclusive weapon, and exclusive weapon skills would never drop for that account.

"Let's run dungeons together from now on," Bai Luoyin suggested after they logged out.

"Team mode."

"I was about to suggest the same thing."

Just then, the doorbell rang.

Su Lingyan went to the front door to pick up their dinner from the delivery driver.

"Let's eat first."

They had ordered beef noodle soup for dinner. Su Lingyan went into the kitchen and took out the unfinished bottle of fruit tea from the refrigerator.

"So, what are we watching tonight?" she asked.

These days, young people usually choose between scrolling through their phones or watching a TV series or anime while eating. Simply sitting there and eating without doing anything else felt unbearably boring.

If you don't have that habit, congratulations—that's a good thing.

"The show we watched last time wasn't very good."

Bai Luoyin shook her head.

"Oh, you mean the one where the female lead was beautiful, got great grades, and was somehow bullied by her entire class?"

"Yeah."

"And she never even tried to solve the problem herself. She just waited for someone to save her."

Bai Luoyin nodded.

"Although... considering her situation, that reaction was understandable."

"But honestly, someone like that usually wouldn't become a bullying target in the first place."

"True," Su Lingyan agreed.

"It didn't make much sense. No one ever bullied me."

"Uh..."

Bai Luoyin picked up the remote.

"I honestly can't think of a reason anyone would bully you."

"Heh."

Su Lingyan shrugged.

"Bullying has never needed a legitimate reason, has it?"

Truthfully, she wasn't completely unfamiliar with malice from her peers.

Unfortunately for them, besides being smart, she also had some martial arts skills.

So far, she had never ended up on the losing side.

"Besides," she continued, "while it's understandable that someone in that situation might not fight back, the real issue is the mindset of the author—or the screenwriter. If they genuinely wanted the female lead to have her own personality and appeal, they'd give her the strength to resist. Sadly, I didn't see any of that in that drama."

"This movie looks pretty good."

At that moment, Bai Luoyin finally found something she wanted to watch.

"Nice."

Su Lingyan clapped her hands.

"This time, we actually managed to pick something before we finished our main course."