Home and Roommate

A crude panel appeared in Zhou Kai's field of vision, a few centimeters above the Badge.

[Character: Zhou Kai]

[Status: Fatigued, Weak, Wound Infection, Erosion]

[Skills: None]

[Items: Residence Permit, Homemade Chain Axe (Cannot Be Upgraded)]

[Universal Experience: 0]

[Erosion Progress: 4/9] (Please avoid death!)

"Game Panel?"

Zhou Kai froze for only a moment before spotting the key detail.

The number for Erosion Progress bothered him deeply.

4/9!

He had died exactly four times...

That meant that rather than seeing a panel, he had seen a countdown to his death.

What he needed to do most right now...

Zhou Kai clenched the cold Badge.

Find a place and make it his "Home"!

The kitchen reeked of rust and mold.

After searching for quite a while, Zhou Kai found a rusty Western-style kitchen knife.

The blade was long enough, but its balance was absurdly bad. Trying to chop with it would be nothing but torture for his wrist.

Still, something was better than nothing.

He tucked the kitchen knife into his belt where he could draw it with a backhand.

Holding the crude chain axe, Zhou Kai stood at the doorway and stared silently at the pitch-black curtain of rain outside, dark enough to drown a man. Then he plunged straight into it.

This smashed-up shack was too shabby even to serve as a grave, let alone a "Home."

If he wanted to live, he had to find a more intact shell to hide inside.

For that, he had to take a risk.

His gear might have been scavenged junk, but at least he still had five lives left... Now was the time to gamble with one.

While the rain poured and thunder roared, while the patrolling Chain-Hammer Monster had only just gone away.

Find a Safe House!

Get back to the real world!

Zhou Kai sucked in a sharp breath, hunched over, stepped into the mud, and sprinted toward the nearest outline of a house.

His footsteps were completely swallowed by the raging rain. Even he could barely hear them.

That deathly silence drowned out by the storm made his heart pound wildly. The monster could not hear him, but likewise, he could not hear the monster.

Only a paper-thin barrier stood between him and danger, one that could be pierced at any moment.

A thick bolt of lightning tore through the night sky, its ghastly white light lingering for nearly two seconds.

Zhou Kai had just rushed to the nearest building's entrance when he instinctively glanced back in the flash.

With that one look, he saw a hairy, four-legged monster crawling through the breach smashed into the wall by the Chain-Hammer Armored Soldier and into the shack he had just left.

That thing's legs had so many joints that it made his scalp crawl.

Zhou Kai did not dare look again. He shoved open the door and squeezed inside, his heart nearly leaping out of his throat.

Thank God, thank God he had left early.

Otherwise, he would have come face-to-face with that Hairy Monster!

"What the hell is this place? These monsters are spawning like they're free!"

Zhou Kai raised a hand and wiped the rain from his face.

It was so dark in here that he could not see his own fingers. There were no windows...

Or rather, the windows had been nailed shut with wooden boards.

He could not use the lightning outside to see anything.

But darkness was both danger and shelter.

If no light could get out, then any light he lit inside would not be spotted by whatever was outside.

"Choose this place as my [Home]!"

Zhou Kai stared into empty space and silently recited the words in his mind.

[Please find furniture that can serve as a "Safe House Core" before setting it.]

Text quickly appeared in his vision and flickered twice.

Zhou Kai frowned.

Fine. Then he would find it.

He felt around and pulled the Waterproof Lighter from his pocket...

The fact that he could bring things from reality in here meant this damned place had never been normal to begin with.

The lighter was not broken. On his third try, it clicked, and a yellow-blue flame sprang up.

The light was weak, but enough to drive away the viscous darkness within three meters of him.

By the firelight, Zhou Kai immediately spotted an Oil Lamp on the Fireplace, its glass shade blackened by soot.

He picked up the Oil Lamp and shook it. Liquid sloshed inside...

There was oil.

After fumbling with it for a moment, he successfully lit the Oil Lamp.

The flickering flame illuminated Zhou Kai's features, bringing a long-lost warmth with it.

Creak, creak.

Zhou Kai tried adjusting the metal reflector inside the Oil Lamp.

Now, the light reached farther.

He made a circuit of the living room. Finally, before the Fireplace piled with bones and damp firewood, new text popped up.

[Use the Fireplace as the Safe House Core and choose this place as your [Home].]

Zhou Kai confirmed in a low voice.

Something miraculous happened. The Badge in his hand lit up, and the green rust on it instantly faded away, turning it a bright bronze color.

[Home successfully established.]

[Upon your next respawn, you will appear directly before the Fireplace...]

[Upon your next entry into the Nightmare, progress will no longer refresh, and personal status will no longer refresh...]

[When you light the Fireplace, negative conditions will slowly dissipate.]

[Hint: A Residence Permit notarized under Territory Law (Helen Parish) will prevent other residents from easily invading your territory.]

[Now, you can spend a wonderful day with your roommate.]

With the Safe House established, even the decayed air in the room seemed to dissipate somewhat.

Though the Fireplace held nothing but bones and rotten wood, it gave off an unusual warmth.

"Territory Law? Those monsters actually obey the law?"

Though there were still countless doubts, Zhou Kai finally felt his heart settle.

This time... he was really safe.

Wait!

Zhou Kai's eyes suddenly widened.

"What the hell? Roommate!? Where the fuck did I get a roommate!"

The chain axe that had been hanging loosely at his side was instantly swung up onto his shoulder.

By the dim yellow light of the Oil Lamp, Zhou Kai warily scanned every inch of darkness around him, his muscles taut, ready to swing his axe at any moment.

He was going to drag that thing out!

Otherwise, what was he supposed to do next time he came in?

No one liked opening their eyes only to get jumpscared to death by some random thing!

"If I can't beat it, leave the Nightmare immediately. If I can... then kill it!"

This house was much bigger than his original spawn point, with two full floors.

The first floor had a living room, kitchen, study, and stairs leading down to the basement.

The second floor had three bedrooms and a folding ladder leading to an attic storage room.

Zhou Kai quickly checked the kitchen and living room but found no trace of any living thing.

Instead, he found a fairly sharp Short-handled Axe on the kitchen cutting board beside a pool of fresh blood.

"Oh, this thing is way more useful than the Shirt Chain Axe."

Zhou Kai upgraded his weapon and then headed for the study.

The study door was the only door on the entire first floor that was tightly shut.

Holding up his axe, Zhou Kai pressed himself against the door and listened carefully.

A rustling sound came from inside, like cloth scraping against the floor.

Zhou Kai's pupils abruptly contracted.

Before he could push the door open, a jagged black bone spike burst through the door with a muffled pop, its tip less than a foot from his nose!

Zhou Kai instinctively leaned back, staggering several steps before regaining his footing.

At that moment, the monster in the study stumbled out with the pierced door panel shoved against it.

That was right, it was wearing the door.

The thing looked like a middle-aged man dressed in European medieval noble attire. He was bald, his skull malformed and swollen to twice the size of an ordinary person's.

And from his left shoulder grew a massive blackish-red spike, as long as a human calf.

Just now, it had assumed the stance of an Iron Mountain Lean, using that bone spike to ram through the door and attack Zhou Kai.