Dragon Kingdom, Bo City, Yulan Academy.
[The Weird World has finished loading. It is now opening simultaneously across the globe.]
"Hey, you heard that too, right?"
"I thought I was imagining things."
"Maybe someone in the broadcasting room forgot to mute their game."
The classroom erupted in chatter as everyone discussed the voice they had just heard.
"The Weird World?"
Li Ran lifted his head from behind a wall of thick textbooks, his sleepy eyes showing a hint of surprise.
As everyone looked on in confusion, the same chilling system voice sounded in Li Ran's ears again.
[Twenty-five people will now be selected from this region to enter the Weird World. The time limit is fifteen days. The instance will feature a random starting location, randomly triggered missions, and randomly awarded rewards.]
[Instances include exploration and survival, horror and ghosts, apocalyptic viruses, the revival of the supernatural, Cthulhu Mythos, and player-versus-player combat.]
[After fifteen days, anyone still alive will be transported back to the real world. At that time, players can bring back any special abilities, special items, and special characters they obtained in the instance. Death in the instance means death in reality.]
[Randomly selecting an instance now.]
Images flashed before everyone's eyes like frames from a movie.
As the images slowed, the final scene stopped in front of them.
[Instance selected for this region: Happy Home]
A neighborhood shrouded in darkness appeared before Li Ran.
But to him, every part of it seemed eerie. There was nothing happy about it.
Dark clouds hung overhead, and the night sky was starless.
The streets were dead silent, the park deserted, and of the dozen or so apartment buildings, only a handful of windows showed lights.
"Ugh!!!"
At the sound of a strange noise, Li Ran furrowed his brow.
A gigantic cocoon covered in countless tentacles clung to the outer wall of a high-rise. The enormous cocoon pulsed slowly, like a living heart.
"Holy crap..."
Li Ran stared at the monster in the image, his scalp prickling. "What the hell is that?"
Had the insectoid race built a nest on the wall?
It looked as if something alive inside the cocoon might burst out at any moment.
The footage continued. As the camera swept over the neighborhood and looked down at its park, the class erupted in commotion.
"Whoa!!!"
The park, surrounded by apartment buildings, was packed with more than a hundred horrifying creatures of all shapes and sizes. It was crammed full of them. Hair-raising howls rose from below, and countless monsters came pouring out of every building.
"Ghhhh!!!"
"Ughhh!!!"
"Kehehehe!!!"
The sheer density of the monsters in the park left every student pale and shivering with fear.
They were everywhere, piled on top of one another—deformed, mutated, twisted, rotting, and blood-soaked. Every kind of horror anyone could imagine had been packed into a single neighborhood park.
How was this Happy Home? It was clearly Monster Paradise!
The image abruptly vanished, and the system's cold voice sounded again.
[This instance contains a mental virus known as the Desire Virus. Those infected will become monsters controlled by their desires. But players need not worry too much: they act perfectly normal during the day.]
"Not worry? My ass! Sending us in there is basically a death sentence!" Li Ran's deskmate, Wang Xiaoxian, cursed.
[Beginning player selection for entry into the Weird World. Detecting the attributes of individuals within range.]
[Selection range: Yulan Academy]
[Data scan complete. Twenty-five players with the highest overall abilities will soon be selected to enter the Weird World.]
"Highest overall abilities?" Li Ran smacked his lips and went back to resting his head on the desk. "Then I'm fine. No way they'd pick a hopeless student like me."
The cold, emotionless voice continued.
[You have been selected!]
"What the fuck?" Li Ran's sleepiness vanished. He jolted awake.
Twenty-five portraits appeared before everyone, and Li Ran's was among them.
"I don't believe it. How could Li Ran be the only one in our class who got picked?"
"That dead-last student is supposed to have the best overall abilities in our class?"
"No way. He gets the lowest score every time."
The students all turned to look at Li Ran in the back row.
Li Ran was just as stunned. As a hopeless student, he was finally getting attention for the first time, and it made him a little uncomfortable.
He didn't think he was especially smart or outstanding, and he had no particular talents.
If he had to name one tiny difference...
It was probably the sizable inheritance his parents had left him.
Just how sizable?
As long as he didn't squander it, it would probably be enough to support him for at least three lifetimes.
Of course, no one knew he was a transmigrator, either.
Besides that, he also had a Golden Finger.
But did that count as an overall ability?
[The Weird World is about to begin transporting players. Those selected, please prepare yourselves.]
"Holy crap..." Li Ran shot to his feet. "This is actually happening?"
A Beam appeared above Li Ran's head. His deskmate, Wang Xiaoxian, stumbled back a few steps, staring at him in disbelief.
The Beam narrowed, and Li Ran vanished from the classroom.
At the same time, the other twenty-four players at the academy were transported away one by one.
Wang Xiaoxian stared glumly at the spot where Li Ran had disappeared. "We agreed we'd slack off and be lousy students together, but then you suddenly showed off. You really had me fooled."
[Important reminder: If all twenty-five players die in the Weird World, the supernatural horrors in the instance will descend upon the city where this region is located.]
"Holy shit!!!"
Yulan Academy descended into panic.
[You have entered the Weird World.]
[Current instance: Happy Home]
[Initial guidance mission: Pick up Li Ziyang after school and take him home.]
[Your identity: Li Ziyang's father]
[Reward: Mysterious Power +10, 100 points]
[The higher your Mysterious Power, the stronger you are. Points can be used to purchase items in the instance shop. Finally, good luck.]
The system's cold voice sounded in Li Ran's ears, then fell silent.
A building shaped like a rainbow-colored castle stood before him.
"Happy Kindergarten?" Li Ran read the name on the sign at the entrance.
The street was deserted and utterly silent.
"Looks like I've entered the Weird World."
He stood alone in the street. He had no idea where his "teammates" were.
In the distance, he could see a residential district full of high-rises.
That was the "Monster Paradise" from the footage!
Li Ran's pupils contracted slightly. He'd been single since birth and had never been with a woman. He hadn't yet spread his seed across the world or properly enjoyed life. He didn't want to die in an instance.
He'd thought he could be a carefree transmigrator, coasting through life without a worry.
But the arrival of the Weird World had completely derailed his plans.
"Ding-a-ling~!"
The kindergarten's dismissal bell pulled Li Ran out of his thoughts.
"School's out?" Li Ran looked down the silent street. "There isn't a single parent here to pick up a kid."
As he wondered about this, a skinny child walked out through the kindergarten gate.
The child was short, around five or six years old, with short, wispy hair that barely covered his eyebrows. His little face was unusually pale, and his eyes unusually dark. He looked just like a child from a certain movie named Saeki Toshio.
Li Ran blinked. Was this kindergarten seriously attended by only one kid?
If his guess was right, he was this child's father.
Just then, several lines of Text Panel text, visible only to Li Ran, appeared above the child's head.
The novel has no livestreaming. Stop asking whether there's a livestream.
Please add the new book to your favorites, recommend it, and keep reading.
There's a lot of setup early on, so don't rush, everyone. When you get to Survival Day, it'll be explosive!
Horror, the supernatural, thrills, passion—high energy all the way, and an absolute blast!
Before you continue