[Huainan Station has arrived, passengers who are getting off please take your personal belongings and get ready to disembark. We wish you a pleasant journey.]
The train stopped at the station, and the system task bar popped up:
[Ding, Main Quest Completion: 71%, First Completion Bonus Skill: Stealing Skill, Quest Rating: C Level, Reward Skill Experience +1000]
Instantly, a stream of information flowed into his brain, including various techniques of stealing and their corresponding experience.
Li Xiang clutched his head, digesting it for a while before he could regain his composure.
That was the aftereffect of the sudden enlightenment of the Stealing Skill. At this moment, his mind was filled with a lot of techniques related to pilfering, such as:
When pickpockets operate, if there are few people around, they mostly use newspapers, clothes, and scarves to obscure the view with their hands. This method is called using a 'decoy'. In crowded places, it's not necessary.
Such and so forth.
In short, if Li Xiang was let out now, he would definitely be able to steal something back.
At this time, the duplicate environment faded away, and he returned to a simulation space of nothingness.
"Did I really just learn a skill?"
Li Xiang was a bit in disbelief. He quickly chanted his attributes panel, and the skill column was no longer empty but had Stealing Skill.
[Stealing Skill: Beginner]
[Introduction: By covert means, using various techniques and methods to possess someone else's property. If mastered to a grandmaster level, you could even peel a raw egg with your bare hands.]
[Skill Level Up Requirement: 1000 Skill Proficiency]
"Peeling a raw egg with bare hands? That's awesome."
That is Uncle Li's exclusive skill.
Li Xiang's eyes shone with envy. The most memorable scene for him in the movie "A World Without Thieves" was Uncle Li peeling a raw egg with his hands. If he could learn this, showing off occasionally would be extremely cool, right?
"Level Up."
Although the task was only 71% complete, the system rewarded him with skill experience, enough for him to level up one more time.
[Ding, Skill Upgrade, Current Skill: Stealing Skill (Intermediate), Attribute: Finger Dexterity]
[Skill Level Up Requirement: 3000 Skill Proficiency]
In an instant, Li Xiang's stealing technique and experience improved once again. Even elite police officers who have worked in anti-pickpocketing for three or four years couldn't compare to him in terms of stealing or anti-pickpocketing skills.
"So the duplicates are this powerful, allowing someone to instantly learn skills that would take ordinary people years of hard practice. This is my cheat."
After completing real-life tasks, rewards like experience are given, leveling up, increasing attributes and diamonds, then using diamonds to unlock duplicates, learning skills in duplicates, they complement each other.
This is the real power of this game.
With this thought, Li Xiang looked at the first level of the duplicate again. It had already turned gray and was in cooldown. He could speed up the cooldown for 100 diamonds, or without speeding up, it would refresh after midnight.
The already unlocked duplicate can only be freely opened once a day, and unlocking a new second duplicate requires not only 2000 diamonds but also a 100% completion rate of the previous duplicate.
Li Xiang's current balance is only 100 diamonds, so between saving up to open a new duplicate or choosing to run the old duplicate, he chose the latter.
This way, by midnight today, he will have two opportunities to run duplicates.
This will allow him to increase the skill level of Stealing Skill as soon as possible.
"100 diamonds, spent."
Reopening the duplicate, the familiar scene unfolded again. Having experienced it once before, Li Xiang followed the original plan smoothly.
This time, he didn't waste time on exposed thieves and concentrated on finding the thieves he hadn't discovered in the last duplicate.
With intermediate-level Stealing Skill, the duplicate was much easier for Li Xiang this time. Just by a glance, he could understand the intentions of those pickpockets.
Especially when they were stealing passenger wallets, he could immediately understand the methods they were using.
Like Flying Elephant across the River, pickpockets sitting behind a passenger would reach through the gap behind the seat while the passenger wasn't paying attention to steal the wallet from their pants pocket or simply cut open the pocket with a blade and steal the wallet.
Or Big Fish Eats Small Fish, with a pickpocket using a pre-prepared large bag to cover the passenger's small bag on the luggage rack, and then extending their hand to stealthily and imperceptibly steal belongings.
Various stealing skills, all with the sole purpose of stealing passengers' belongings.
And Li Xiang observed and noted all these tricks.
Time passed quickly, the train pulled into the station, and the task was settled.
[Ding, Main Quest Completion: 87%, Quest Rating: B Level, Reward Skill Experience +1500]
The completion rate improved a lot compared to the first time, but there were still some deeply hidden pickpockets.
Li Xiang felt he was already trying hard to find pickpockets, but unexpectedly, there were so many pickpockets hiding on this train, and there weren't enough passengers to steal from.
With the diamonds spent, the duplicate turned gray and went into cooldown again. Only after midnight would the cooldown end, allowing him to play once more tonight, at which point the Stealing Skill could level up again.
Without any duplicates to run, Li Xiang exited the simulation space and returned to reality.
The aftereffect of learning skills also manifested as he realized during house chores that his finger dexterity had noticeably improved compared to before.
His fingers weren't exactly stiff before, but he could never have achieved what he could do now. To test finger dexterity, he found a coin from the drawer, placed it on the back of his hand, and let it roll back and forth between his fingers with ease.
This ability was unthinkable for him in the past.
Not only that, he also found some finger dance videos on his phone and mimicked them. He quickly picked them up.
"Not playing the piano with this level of finger dexterity would be wasteful."
When Li Xiang was young, he wanted to learn to play the piano the most, but his family was poor and couldn't afford it, so his mom bought him a harmonica and said something he would never forget: "A harmonica is also an instrument, and it has a stainless steel exterior."
Now that his finger dexterity has improved by leaps and bounds, his desire to learn the piano has rekindled. His finger talent issue is resolved, but a new problem has arisen.
He has no money, and his monthly salary isn't even enough for two lessons.
"Forget it, I'll deal with that later. With a cheat, why would I be afraid of not having money?"
After tidying up his home, he lay bored on his bed, scrolling through short videos, waiting for the duplicate to cool down.
Meanwhile, his fingers didn't idle. The coin kept rolling on the back of his hand, becoming more and more dexterous.
Time quickly reached midnight, the duplicate cooldown ended, and Li Xiang started the duplicate again, embarking on his grand mission of catching thieves.
[Ding, Main Quest Completion: 91%, Quest Rating: A Level, Reward Skill Experience +2000]
The accumulated skill experience reached 3500, meeting the requirement for upgrading the Stealing Skill. Without hesitation, Li Xiang immediately upgraded the skill level.
[Ding, Skill Upgrade, Current Skill: Stealing Skill (Advanced), Attribute: Practice Makes Perfect]
[Skill Level Up Requirement: 8000 Skill Proficiency]
In just one night, Li Xiang advanced the Stealing Skill to an advanced level, equivalent to seven or eight years of pickpocketing experience.