What He Gained and Entering Again

Half a day later, at a hospital in the city.

--The doctor in front of him was yanking out his hair in clumps.

He was pulling very hard.

Worried the doctor's already high hairline might recede even further, Zhou You kindly reminded him, "Um, Doctor, how is my condition...?"

"My condition? Oh, right, your condition!" The doctor hurriedly set the CT scan in his hand aside, then said, "Mr. Zhou, your condition... it's a miracle! By our most optimistic estimate, you had only about two months to live, but now the lesion has actually stabilized! Although its effects on your brain haven't gone away, you should be able to hold on for a while longer..."

Zhou You didn't listen to the rest. He simply leaned back in his chair, his whole body suddenly relaxing.

--So it hadn't been a dream.

After saying goodbye to the doctor, who had been very eager to have him hospitalized again, Zhou You returned to his home.

Calling it a home was a stretch. It was just a cramped, run-down rental. Aside from being a little cleaner, its overall condition was no better than that of the haunted building—in fact, some of its basic facilities were even worse.

That was only natural. At the end of the day, he had no money.

His grandfather, Old Zhou, who had passed away not long ago, hadn't been well-off. It had been a struggle for him to put Zhou You through college. Zhou You had planned to get a job and help support the household, but who could have guessed that the old man would die in an accident? The funeral and other expenses had already eaten up much of their savings, and the terminal illness he was diagnosed with afterward had been the final straw.

To put it more simply, before entering the game, Zhou You had already been on the verge of having nowhere left to turn.

"--But fortunately, things have finally started to look up."

Zhou You wiped the black-and-white portrait clean on the altar. Looking at the old, stern face, he suddenly smiled.

"Old man, I don't know if you left this book for me on purpose, but thanks to this thing, your poor grandson can at least scrape by for a while longer--and I can't come see you just yet, either. Though, knowing you, you probably don't want to see me again so soon..."

Zhou You shook his head, then carefully straightened the portrait again. Only after that did he sit down at the wooden table nearby and rummage around for a while, before taking a book from the corner of a drawer.

It was the same old book with the black cover that had brought him into the "Weird Game."

There wasn't a trace of anything on it now. Its pages were completely blank, and it looked like an ordinary old book. But as soon as Zhou You placed his hand on it, several lines of text abruptly appeared before his eyes.

"You have completed the Novice Dungeon: Escape from Building Four."

"You killed the 'cause' of this dungeon: the Landlady, and used a chain reaction to destroy the core of the urban legend: Shimen. You will receive an additional reward."

"You have received 100 + 100 (additional reward) Soul Stones."

"You currently have 240 Soul Stones."

"You have received a special blue item (reward upgraded for killing the Landlady): Bronze Bell."

"Effect: It must be hung on your wrist when used. When 'certain things' feel hostility toward you, the bell has a chance of shaking rapidly to warn you."

"This item bears a curse: When the bell rings, it may occasionally alert your enemies and reveal your location."

<This is a common decoration found in cars, usually meant to bring good fortune. But after a horrific car crash that wiped out an entire family, the bell was stained with blood that could never be washed away.>

"You have received a special quest item of unknown grade (additional reward for killing Shimen): Corpse Inside the Door."

"Effect: This is an extremely unusual remnant, once tainted by a trace of the Evil God's dark aura. The Landlady later used it as the foundation of the entire building. When you obtain this item, your next game scenario may be replaced with a special scenario, and your number of revivals will increase by five."

Zhou You froze.

--A special dungeon? What was that?

After thinking it over for a while, he decided to leave it alone for now. He would probably have to enter that space to get an answer, so he continued reading.

"You currently possess two temporary talents: Keen Observation (white) and Broken Existence (white). Would you like to spend Soul Stones to make them permanent? Please note that temporary talents that aren't made permanent will disappear when you enter the game next time."

He hesitated over this message, then immediately chose to make Keen Observation permanent.

Although it was only a white talent, it had proved quite useful in identifying the effects of dead-soul wax. At the very least, it was worth using one of his permanent talent slots for now.

As for the other one, Broken Existence...

Its limitations were simply too severe. It increased movement speed only when you were missing a limb. What kind of person could make regular use of that talent?

Yang Guo?

"You have spent 50 Soul Stones to make this talent permanent."

"This dungeon has been fully settled. Please note that you must enter your next scenario within thirty-five days, or you will be punished with death. You are also forbidden from revealing the existence of this game to anyone in any way. Otherwise..."

Zhou You didn't even listen to what came next. He chose to enter early instead.

After all, the game had only bought him another month of life. Now that he had finally found some hope of surviving, he didn't want to waste a second.

Besides...

Zhou You suddenly had an idea.

If a novice dungeon could be this intense, who knew whether completing even more difficult games later on might... give him a chance to be completely cured?

A few seconds later, Zhou You's figure gradually faded from the room. But at the exact moment he vanished completely, an old television in the corner suddenly switched on.

This was a common scene in horror movies, but no demons or ghosts appeared on the screen. There was no dry well or long-haired Sadako, either. Instead, it was broadcasting a live news report.

"The fire at Building Four in the Garden Residential District, XXX City, has been put out. Investigators initially determined that it was caused by a natural gas explosion. Since the building was in a remote location and the incident happened during working hours, there was only one fatality. Police have identified the deceased as the landlord of the building. Let's hear from some of the neighbors..."

"--You mean that old lady? I know her. She was awful, always finding ways to make trouble for people. The neighbors were constantly being harassed by her..."

"...Her? A few years back, wasn't she the one who withheld a tenant's deposit and drove them to jump off a building? That woman was greedy to an absurd degree. She was in the rental business but wouldn't even maintain the basic facilities. Something like this was bound to happen."

"...I was just backing into the residential complex that time. I never even touched her, but she insisted I'd run over her foot and extorted 8,000 from me! That was two months' wages!"

"...Well, I won't say anything else. I just feel sorry for that young woman. She'd come to the city alone to work, which was hard enough, and then she had to put up with that woman's bullying. She couldn't take it and jumped, but that woman never faced any real consequences. Honestly..."

"..."

"..."

"What? You're asking me? I've only got one thing to say about it."

"Bah! Evil people get what they deserve. Good riddance!"