Announcement Mission, Dungeon Boss

Seeing that the sachet had been accepted, Ji Yan planned to head back happily to report the task and claim his reward.

But just as he turned around, he spotted the Landlord holding a notice and pasting it up near the stairwell entrance.

Ji Yan, about to head downstairs, was driven by curiosity and couldn't help but wander over for a look.

Important Notice: A Parasitic Rat has appeared in the Drain Ditch behind the Apartment Building. To maintain a good environment in the building and protect the residents' rights, seven residents must be gathered to clean it up.

Upon completing the cleanup task, all participants will receive a half-month rent discount for the current month. The group cleanup is limited to seven people. Please be informed.

Ji Yan glanced at it and reached out to touch it.

A task panel immediately popped up in his line of sight.

"Ding! You have triggered an Optional Quest: Help the apartment clean up the rat in the drain ditch. Completing the task will grant you 5% favorability from all Eerie Residents."

"Additionally, you will randomly draw one Treasured Chest—50% chance to open a treasured-grade item, with a guaranteed 100% chance of at least one Rare Grade Item."

"Tip: Players may choose freely, but once confirmed, it cannot be changed."

"The rewards are this generous?"

Not to mention the half-month rent discount.

Just the 5% favorability from all residents and a chest reward alone made this tempting enough to rival an A+ rank quest!

Ji Yan was slightly surprised.

Once the notice was posted, it immediately drew over quite a few residents, but they were all Player residents—clearly, this notice didn't involve the Eerie Residents.

As each Player touched it and the task panel popped up, their eyes went wide.

High rewards often meant high difficulty and high mortality.

Many secretly sensed something fishy.

Even so, a few Players accepted the task without much thought.

Knowing full well there were tigers on the mountain, they still chose to walk that path. It wasn't that these Players were clueless—they just had no choice. If their living conditions weren't so precarious, who would willingly risk their lives for blood money like this?

Ji Yan wasn't interested at first.

After dealing with the Gourmand Eerie, his living situation in Room 404 was pretty solid.

There was no need to go risking his life.

But then a hidden message popped up, making him stop in his tracks.

Hidden Task Info: Tip for the Player—during this task, a "Talent Fragment" has been detected. It is recommended that the Player actively participate.

"What the hell is a Talent Fragment?"

Ji Yan checked it out.

He discovered that his Omniscient Understanding talent could actually be upgraded, and the requirement was exactly this so-called Talent Fragment.

"This buggy talent can actually be upgraded?"

Ji Yan's expression showed slight surprise.

Then he carefully weighed his options.

Looking at the notice, six people had already signed up, leaving just one spot left.

Whether driven by curiosity or instinct, he gritted his teeth and pulled off the last Work Badge clipped under the notice.

Taking the Work Badge meant accepting the task—no backing out now!

Even though the Omniscient Understanding talent was overpowering, its trigger conditions were still too rigid—only activated by touching related objects. In a way, that was still pretty restrictive.

Maybe upgrading it would fix that flaw?

At worst, if danger came up during the task, he could expose Liu Nianqing from Room 702 as a backup—after all, this eerie still owed him a favor.

"Bro, you're really grabbing this life-risking grind too?"

As soon as Ji Yan confirmed, the Middle Part Man next to him couldn't help blurting out.

He'd been about to reach for the badge himself, but was two seconds too late—Ji Yan beat him to it.

"Why can't I take it?" Ji Yan shot back.

"Don't kid me. Look at you—rosy complexion, healthy body. Clearly your living conditions are pretty good. Taking a death-trap task like this, what are you thinking?"

The Middle Part Man was genuinely baffled.

In the Dungeon, a Player's living conditions could be roughly judged by their appearance.

For example, if a Player went one to three days without food, their face would look gaunt. Three to seven days without food, their body would waste away, and even corpse spots would appear.

Hunger, lack of sleep, and so on would drag down a Player's various stats.

And when Players got close, they could check each other's basic stats.

When the guy opened Ji Yan's stats, everything was full.

Damn, with living conditions this good, why take on a life-risking task like this just to suffer? What kind of major screw loose did he have?

Ji Yan glanced behind him and said, "Isn't the condition behind you even better than mine?"

Behind him, a man with an afro also took off his work badge.

He was dressed sharply, with a tall and burly build.

Upon closer inspection, the clothes he wore and the accessories he sported were all eerie items. The cleaver hanging at his waist was thick with resentment, clearly not low-level.

It was like a max-level big shot decked out in divine gear with a mount suddenly appearing in a newbie village.

Ji Yan tapped open the player's public profile and his expression shifted.

"Player: Long Yuan."

"Dungeon Survival Time: 109 days."

"Dungeon Progress: One Main Quest completed, 12 Eerie Residents conquered, 4 eliminated."

"Equipment: Not disclosed."

"Status: All six stats maxed." (Hexagon)

This flashy profile stunned even Ji Yan, let alone the other players who glanced over.

Their eyes went wide: "Holy crap, that's a real big shot!"

Only a few veteran players silently looked away, inwardly surprised: "This guy slept for so many days, and today he actually came out of his room!"

Long Yuan took off his work badge, chewed gum as he glanced around, then turned and headed downstairs, completely indifferent to the curious stares around him.

After the Middle Part Man watched his figure disappear, he turned to Ji Yan and said, "That big shot is going after the Main Quest, not like us."

"You haven't survived many days, have you? You don't even know Dragon God. He's the player with the longest Survival Time in the Crimson Apartment. He cleared the apartment long ago, and the last Main Quest was reset by him."

"You're probably wondering, since he cleared the Dungeon, why doesn't he move to the next one? Well, he—"

"I didn't ask, and I don't want to."

The Middle Part Man was clearly a fanboy of Long Yuan, getting all worked up, but Ji Yan cut him off with a wave and turned away.

He had little interest in so-called big shots. What was the point of knowing them? They weren't going to hand him a piece of the pie.

Coming down the stairwell, Ji Yan didn't head back to Room 404. He went straight to the ground floor assembly point.

Once the Cleanup Squad was full, they'd set off immediately. Whether they finished or not, they had to be back before dark.

The lobby at the apartment entrance was already packed with the full team. Ji Yan was the last to arrive.

The seven-person squad had five members with sallow, gaunt faces. As the Middle Part Man said, most who took this bulletin task were on the verge of elimination, hoping to scrape by with this mission.

Everyone was on edge.

The thick fog outside the apartment made any unknown danger impossible to predict.

But when they saw Long Yuan come down, everyone's expressions did a 180-degree turn.

Long Yuan was actually on this task too!

Then taking down this Drain Ditch cleanup job was a sure thing.

Sure, Long Yuan would take the lion's share of the credit, but being carried along, they'd be satisfied with a small cut.

Facing the stares around him, the towering Long Yuan didn't look back. He wore over-ear headphones, held a book, chewed gum, and was lost in his own world.

The scene formed a stark contrast.

Everyone else looked like malnourished refugees from a slum, while Long Yuan seemed like he was on vacation from a rich district.

Ji Yan stuffed a piece of wheat bread into his mouth, stared at Long Yuan not far away, and muttered, "Why does he seem so full of himself?"

No sooner had he spoken than Long Yuan suddenly pulled off his headphones and looked over.

Realizing the guy was staring at him, Ji Yan's face showed a flicker of surprise: "No way, he heard me with headphones on?"