A Chinese Ghost Story

"Knock, knock, knock."

Several knocks sounded from outside the door.

"An Yang, may I come in?"

An Yang frowned and sat upright in bed.

"Of course, Lina."

Lina had short, golden hair that reached her ears. She wore a red evening dress and light makeup. With a smile at the corners of her lips, she walked in, sat beside him, and pressed herself close to him.

"May I sit here?"

An Yang sniffed lightly. The woman had put on some perfume, and it smelled wonderful.

"Of course. Make yourself comfortable. Besides, you look beautiful."

A trace of worry appeared on Lina's face. She turned to look at him and said, "You're going back tomorrow, aren't you? Will we ever see each other again?"

An Yang narrowed his eyes. Foreign women were usually quite open. When one sat on your bed with her makeup carefully done, it was already a very obvious hint.

"Hard to say. But I think we probably won't see each other again. Asia is on the other side of the Earth."

Lina suddenly leaned toward him and stared straight into his eyes. Their faces were very close. Parting her bright red lips, she said, "Actually, I really like Chinese Kung Fu. If you have time, could you teach me?"

An Yang nodded. The flames he had accumulated over three months were almost burning him to ash, and this woman was teasing him. His breathing inevitably quickened.

Lina leaned forward and kissed him on the lips. Her hands naturally wound around his neck, and with a shift of her body, she pressed herself against him.

Their kiss grew increasingly passionate. Their bodies burned with heat, and faint breaths escaped through their nostrils.

The real world, Jinguan City. Another deserted alley.

An Yang appeared out of thin air in a dark green military officer's uniform. This time, however, he had been mentally prepared. His intermediate Mastery of Combat had also given him stronger reflexes and balance, so he landed steadily.

He froze for a moment, then took out his phone.

"Why is it another alley?"

"There is someone in the Chosen One's room. If you aren't afraid of startling her by appearing out of nowhere, I can change the positioning strategy next time."

An Yang was stunned. "Someone? Could it be Ji Weiwei? Or did a thief break in?"

"Judging from the photos on the Chosen One's previous phone, it should be her."

Only then did An Yang relax. After thinking for a moment, he said, "Let's go back. It's time to make use of your phone's functions. Come on, open the map for me."

A 3D map instantly appeared on the phone. Both his home and his current location were marked, while the shortest route turned red. The map's orientation kept changing with the phone, and even the scenery along the roadside was exactly like the real thing. It looked quite impressive.

"Oh, it's this way. I know the route. Turn it off."

An Yang put away his phone and glanced around. He removed the medal pinned to his chest, then took off the shoulder boards, cap badge, collar insignia, and other pieces from his officer's uniform and put them into his pocket. Only then did he walk forward confidently.

The events of Escape from the Amazon took place in 1999. This uniform was a Type 87 Military Uniform, while the current military uniform was the Type 07 Military Uniform. Chinese law stipulated that non-active-duty officers could not wear active-duty military uniforms.

Anyone could wear this Type 87 Military Uniform, but the shoulder boards, collar insignia, cap badge, and other accessories could not be worn. Otherwise, it would be considered impersonating a military serviceman. He still couldn't afford to provoke the government.

Even so, his military officer's uniform attracted plenty of attention. Many people didn't even know the difference between a Type 87 Military Uniform and a Type 07 Military Uniform. Seeing his resolute features and the way he walked forward without looking to either side, they assumed he was an officer. The soldierly bearing he had developed during his three months at Hunter School had not yet faded.

An Yang went upstairs and knocked on the door, but there was no response from inside. He knocked again. Still, there was no response.

"Is nobody home?"

An Yang stopped waiting, pulled out his key, and unlocked the door with a click.

It was a two-bedroom, two-living-room rental apartment. Although it wasn't small, it certainly wasn't large either—the kind of place where no one could hide. At a glance, he could tell that nobody was inside.

"That girl... where did she go?"

An Yang gave a bitter laugh. He had even gone out of his way to find a shopping mall and changed out of his military uniform into casual clothes in the restroom. Yet Ji Weiwei had somehow run off again without telling him where she was going.

The phone vibrated, and dense information appeared on its screen.

Prelude 3, A Chinese Ghost Story

Mission World: A Chinese Ghost Story (Origin World)

Mission Time: 503 hours and 31 minutes from now

Mission Objective: Prevent Nie Xiaoqian from reincarnating

Initial Skill: None

Mission Success: Reward—1 item ability, 1 skill point, 1 physical attribute point

Mission Failure: Repeat the mission

"A Chinese Ghost Story! Nie Xiaoqian! Black Mountain Old Demon! Yan Chixia! Sword Control Technique!"

An Yang's eyes widened. His first reaction wasn't to the beautiful female ghost, Nie Xiaoqian, but to the fact that he had finally entered a world that surpassed the present world in certain aspects!

In a world like this, his gains would undoubtedly be the greatest.

"Hahaha, my Skill Stealing can finally be put to use!"

Only after his excitement subsided did An Yang begin examining the mission.

"Prevent Nie Xiaoqian from reincarnating. Is this asking me to help Nie Xiaoqian and Ning Caichen achieve a happy ending? I didn't expect you to be so righteous, system. I misjudged you!"

"Wait. Five hundred and three hours and thirty-one minutes. Let me calculate... Two times two is four, two times four is eight. Hmm, system, if you're a phone, you should act like one. Come on, open the calculator for me."

"Nearly twenty-one days. That's a long time!"

An Yang was astonished by the length of the preparation period.

"System, what's going on?"

"In the Escape from the Amazon world, the originally calculated probability of the Chosen One giving up due to exhaustion was two percent. The probability of being hit by a bullet on the Devil's Road was five percent. The probability of being hit during the first anti-narcotics mission was thirty-one percent. During the second mission... Taken together, the probability of the Chosen One giving up on the mission was two percent, the probability of withdrawing from training due to injury was sixty-five percent, and the probability of completing the mission was thirty-three percent. It was estimated that the Chosen One would repeat the mission three times. Since the Chosen One passed on the first attempt, 432 hours were saved..."

"Stop. I understand. You mean the interval before the next mission is also related to the time it took to complete the previous mission?"

"Yes."

An Yang suddenly understood.

In the Amazon mission, he would leave training as soon as he was injured. To him, being injured meant failing the mission. During the two actual combat missions with the highest injury rates, he had chosen to snipe from a distance the first time and directly avoided the greatest danger the second time. Therefore, these 503 hours also included the time he had saved by skipping two additional attempts at Escape from the Amazon.

"I'd better watch A Chinese Ghost Story a few more times first."

As he spoke, An Yang tossed his phone into Portable Space. He was just about to turn on the computer when his stomach began to growl.

"Forget it. There are still more than twenty days anyway. I'll go out and get something to eat first."