February Arrives Tomorrow

In a restaurant, five people sat around a table.

Yuwen Hao's gaze was almost entirely fixed on Gu Mian, as this doctor was the most peculiar among all the players.

Not only was his appearance unusual, but his attitude towards this Dungeon was also strange.

"Are you... a doctor?" Yuwen Hao asked after a moment of hesitation.

Gu Mian shifted his gaze from the menu to Yuwen Hao's face. "I am, in a way. At least, before this game started."

Yuwen Hao was young, appearing to be only about twenty-five or twenty-six. His looks were ordinary, like a young man who had just entered society a few years ago.

However, he was more composed and calm than others his age. Although his expression was a bit strange, he could still introduce everyone to Gu Mian in an orderly fashion.

"Then let me introduce everyone to you, Doctor..."

This is strange, Yuwen Hao thought, his heart pounding. This doctor is younger than me, so why do I feel like I'm meeting an elder when I see him?

"This is Lin Yue'er, she's a university student." Yuwen Hao looked at the only female player among the five.

Lin Yue'er was as her name suggested, a very petite girl. She wore glasses and appeared shy, seemingly not very good at communicating with others, as she dodged the gazes cast her way.

"Over there, the man sitting next to Lin Yue'er, the slightly overweight one, is Golden Wings."

Gu Mian followed Yuwen Hao's gaze.

He saw a slightly overweight man sitting next to Lin Yue'er. He looked a bit older than Yuwen Hao and was wearing a dark brown sweater. His hair was messy, as if he hadn't left his home in a long time.

Golden Wings smiled sheepishly. "I... I'm a bit of a shut-in."

I can tell.

Yuwen Hao continued introducing the next person.

"The male classmate next to Mr. Huang, the pale and thin one, just graduated not long ago. He's from the Chinese department, his name is Qing Huan."

Gu Mian tilted his head slightly.

It was evident that Qing Huan was an artistic youth, refined and cultured. A glance at him exuded an aura of scholarly refinement.

Qing Huan looked up and gave Gu Mian a polite smile. His face was a little pale, seemingly due to fear.

Now Gu Mian basically understood the other four people.

Since he had figured everyone else out, it was time for self-introductions.

"Hello everyone," Gu Mian began. "My name is Gu Mian. I can still barely be considered a doctor. You can call me Doctor Gu."

As he spoke, he dragged a large bag leaning against the chair over. "I'm also a doctor who loves music. This is my guitar."

Upon hearing this, everyone else looked at him as if they had seen a ghost.

Yuwen Hao was the first to speak hesitantly. "Doctor Gu, bringing such a large guitar into the Dungeon... isn't that a bit inconvenient..."

Gu Mian appeared unwilling to take advice. "No problem, I think it's fine."

Seeing that he couldn't have a normal conversation with the doctor, Yuwen Hao changed the subject.

"Alright, since we've all met, let's discuss this Dungeon first. My mission is to survive for ten days. What about yours?"

The others nodded one after another, indicating that everyone had the same mission.

"The main theme of this Dungeon seems to be related to curses. I think it's similar to the movie Ring. Have you guys seen Ring?" Yuwen Hao looked at the others.

It turned out that the horror movie Ring had a wide audience.

Only Lin Yue'er, the sole female player present, hadn't seen it. However, she had heard of the film's notorious reputation and knew that Sadako would crawl out of the television to kill those she cursed.

The slightly overweight shut-in, Golden Wings, spoke. "Are you saying our current situation is similar to being cursed by Sadako?"

"Yes," Yuwen Hao nodded. "In horror movies, Sadako crawls out of the TV on the seventh day to kill people, but this Dungeon hasn't given us a specific time for the ghost to kill."

"This Dungeon just says... 'it' will get closer and closer to us. We can be sure that the ghost will slowly approach us within these ten days. The closer it gets, the more danger we'll be in."

Yuwen Hao suddenly stopped speaking at this point and looked around, as if searching for something.

Gu Mian looked at him. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Yuwen Hao frowned. "I just felt like something was staring at me..."

After a few seconds of silence, he continued. "You've all experienced at least one Dungeon before, so you should know that the ghosts in Dungeons are beyond our ability to deal with."

"Whether it's peach wood swords, Buddhist scriptures, or black dog blood, none of them can deal with those ghosts. They are practically unsolvable!"

Yuwen Hao shivered abruptly as he said this, as if recalling something terrifying.

Gu Mian, however, suddenly reminisced about the ghost he had dragged out from under the bed by its neck.

"But even though the ghosts are unsolvable, the Dungeons themselves are not. There must be a way to survive, so if we want to survive in this Dungeon, we must find clues to that way out!"

His words were very reasonable, and everyone was moved.

Even the quiet Lin Yue'er spoke up. "Then how do you think we can survive for ten days in this Dungeon?"

Without much hesitation, Yuwen Hao replied, "I suspect we need to find the source of the curse."

As he spoke, he looked at everyone. "From my observations, I've noticed that all five of us live in different apartment buildings, and we all live alone. I suspect this is to make it easier for the ghost to target us."

"To find the source, we first need to understand this curse. So, I suggest that we don't take any special actions for now. Tonight, let's each return to our own places and see what happens..."

Lin Yue'er opened her mouth, wanting to say something: "But..."

"Don't be afraid," Yuwen Hao interrupted her. "This Dungeon lasts for ten days, and it also stated that 'it' is constantly approaching. So, there shouldn't be any danger at the beginning. 'It' is still far from us now."

"We can take advantage of these first few days, which are relatively safe, to search for clues about the curse within the Dungeon and find a way out during this safe period."

As he spoke, he looked at the others. Everyone was listening intently, except for the doctor.

He seemed to be spacing out.

"Doctor Gu," Yuwen Hao frowned and tapped the table in front of Gu Mian. "Are you listening to me, Doctor Gu?"

Gu Mian finally turned his gaze to him. "I'm listening, but it looks like it's getting dark soon."

Yuwen Hao was slightly stunned. He turned to look at the window behind him. Sure enough, the sky had already darkened, and night would soon completely engulf the area.

He didn't want to travel back at night either, so he cut to the chase. "In short, let's return to our respective accommodations tonight."

"You don't have your mobile phones, do you? The friend system can't be used in the Dungeon either, so we can only use the phone to contact each other. Try not to sleep tonight, and if you discover anything, communicate immediately by phone."

The realism of this Dungeon was extremely high. Inside, one would feel sleepy, hungry, and thirsty. You wouldn't starve to death, but it would definitely affect your overall condition.

As the five of them came out, the sun had just completely set. The others scattered, rushing back.

Gu Mian lagged behind, planning to find a supermarket to browse. He had previously found a stack of RMB in his room.

After finally finding a supermarket, he bought two large bags of popcorn and then entered the adjacent DVD rental store.

Behind the counter, the boss with slightly yellow teeth gave him a lewd smile. "Young man, what do you want to rent? I have everything here~"

His tone was melodious, exactly like a madam with half her chest exposed, soliciting customers outside a brothel.

Gu Mian took out his money. "Two copies of Ring."