"Game"

Cheng Wen curled up tightly behind the Sofa, his hands clutching his head as his body trembled uncontrollably.

He could already hear those things roaring. They were right outside the door, about to rush into the house...

Those were creatures that absolutely should not exist in this world—hideous, terrifying, especially when they surged forward like a tide. One glance at them was enough to give anyone nightmares.

Although those things moved very slowly, he had nowhere to retreat. He could only watch helplessly as they gradually closed in on him.

Even if he wanted to escape, he had no way to do so. There was no exit here, and he could not even shut the front door. He could not put up even the slightest decent resistance.

They were here...

They were coming...

He could already hear them right beside him...

Feeling that icy Tactile Sensation touch his head, Cheng Wen's face filled with despair.

What... had happened to this world?

Why had such horrifying Monsters appeared...

What would a poor man do after coming into money?

Bai Zhi did not know what others would do, but all he wanted right now was to immediately move into a new place.

The place he had rented near the Snack Street in University Town had cheap rent, but that was its only advantage. The lack of an Air Conditioner was the most fatal flaw.

Although it was already roughly autumn, the temperature remained unbearably high. Almost every day, Bai Zhi received a High Temperature Orange Warning Signal on his phone.

He did not know whether it was because of those Anomaly Incidents, but instead of dropping, the temperature kept climbing higher and higher.

The previous Bai Zhi had chosen to spend every night at the Internet Cafe partly because it had free air conditioning. Otherwise, once night came, even the wind blown by the Fan in that steam-room-like rental was hot.

Now that he had money, Bai Zhi naturally would not mistreat himself. After the incident involving the unconscious students at the hospital was resolved, he began busying himself with finding a new place to live.

His first requirement for a new home was simple: never mind the other conditions, it had to be spacious. If it came with a Swimming Pool, Golf Course, or something similar, that would be even better.

—Don't ask why. When you had money, you could do whatever you wanted.

After spending roughly a day searching, Bai Zhi, with nearly a million in cash in hand, successfully found his ideal residence in a residential complex about ten minutes from the school: a Three-bedroom Apartment, complete with appliances, an Air Conditioner, Refrigerator, Kitchen, and everything else... Sadly, it did not come with its own Swimming Pool.

"Finally settled down. Next, I just need to find some time to go back to the Orphanage and pack up my things. After all, some of the stuff there can't see the light of day..."

He turned on the Air Conditioner in the living room, lay on the Sofa with one hand behind his head, and began considering his plans for the Future.

First and foremost, his top priority was to reach Level five as soon as possible. That was the most important thing; everything else could wait.

After all, this world was becoming increasingly dangerous. The more ability he had to protect himself, the better his chances of surviving the Future Tide.

However, gaining Experience Points to level up was something that could only be encountered by chance. Of the four ways to obtain Experience Points, the only one he could currently pursue was to actively seek out Urban Legends and participate in them.

But although Urban Legends were becoming more numerous, spread across the entire world, the odds of casually running into one were still rather low.

Furthermore, they were far too uncontrollable. If he was unlucky—or absurdly lucky—and encountered an unsolvable Urban Legend, Bai Zhi felt that he might become a negative example of how not to do things.

In the end, his ability to protect himself was simply too weak. After all, the only thing he had for self-defense was that Small Knife...

Just as Bai Zhi was lost in thought over these matters, the system, which had been silent for several days, suddenly stirred. A semi-transparent interface popped up before him.

[A new Game has appeared. All Players are welcome to attempt its Walkthrough.]

Below that brief message was a City Map. A blinking red dot flashed somewhere on the map, and beside that flashing dot was a small circle made of dashed lines.

"A new 'Game'?"

Raising an eyebrow, Bai Zhi sat up from the Sofa.

"Games" were one kind of abnormal phenomenon in this world, generally Dungeons transformed from all sorts of games. "Games" were less dangerous than Anomalies. Clearing a "Game" could earn rewards, while failing to clear one would result in punishment.

Generally speaking, there were several kinds of rewards for clearing a Game, such as items produced within the Game, equipment, or Special Items.

Likewise, the penalties for failing a Game could be divided into several major categories. Lighter penalties included losing some Game Coins, having equipment destroyed, permanently reduced Attribute Values, or a drop in Level.

Heavier penalties included randomly losing certain organs or body parts, randomly gaining certain organs or body parts, falling permanently into slumber, and so on.

The most severe known failure penalty was naturally death—or having all one's rights and consciousness stripped away, becoming an NPC within the Game.

Whenever a new Game appeared, the system would notify every Player in the city where that Game was located, welcoming any Player to attempt its Walkthrough.

But as the saying went, Fortune Favors the Bold. Take a gamble and a bicycle could become a Motorcycle. The benefits gained from completely clearing a Game were simply incomparable, so whenever a new Game appeared, Players usually flocked toward it.

After thinking for a moment, Bai Zhi reached out and tapped the red dot. In an instant, a Countdown appeared beside it.

[2:59:37]

"So this new Game will be available for Three Hours... The location seems to be the Shopping Plaza in the City Center. Taking a Bus there now would take around twenty minutes... I wonder what type of Game it is. Personally, I'd prefer Tetris or FreeCell..."

While searching through these thoughts in his mind, Bai Zhi grabbed his Key without hesitation and headed downstairs.

From that previous Novice Quest, he had learned one lesson: human beings had limits... Pah, if he only kept running away, he would merely cause even greater disasters. His Level was already behind everyone else's, and if he acted timidly over every little thing, there would be no point in carrying on.

He was three months of Game progress behind those Launch Players. He had to catch up as soon as possible.

After all, the world was becoming more and more dangerous...