Dark Palace

A woman pushed open the bedroom door and glanced at the girl sleeping in bed.

After checking again and again that the girl hadn't left the room, she finally closed the door.

"Yingzhi? Is that my name?"

Zhao Yingzhi lay in bed, thinking of how the woman outside had called to her just moments ago.

She didn't hurry to get up this time. The woman was still outside; she hadn't heard her footsteps leaving.

Suddenly, the bedroom door flew open.

The woman fixed Zhao Yingzhi with a sharp gaze. Only after confirming once more that nothing was amiss did she close the door and leave.

This time, Zhao Yingzhi heard the woman's footsteps retreating. Only then did she slowly open her eyes.

"Are they really my family?"

Zhao Yingzhi got up and walked to the window. Through it, she saw a gloomy sky and a residential complex blanketed in greenery.

She was on the first floor. The complex was eerily quiet; she couldn't even hear insects or birds.

On a path in the nearby park, a young man was searching for something with his head bowed.

His face looked familiar, as if she had seen him somewhere before.

Just then, the young man noticed her, too.

Their gazes met.

"Ah~!"

A piercing pain flooded her mind.

Yulan Academy—

Weird World—

Twenty-five players—

Your identity is—

Those strange memories surged into her like a raging tide. In an instant, she remembered so many things.

"I'm Zhao Yingzhi. This is the Weird World..."

"My job is selling real estate..."

"My real identity is—a killer!"

"Was there someone over there just now?"

Li Ran gazed at a small window on the first floor, to the right of Building No. 5.

He had seen a woman standing there, but before he could get a good look, she had disappeared.

"Strange. No prompt?"

Li Ran was puzzled. Whenever he saw someone in the complex before, a prompt would appear. This time, nothing.

"Maybe it was too brief. I didn't see clearly."

Li Ran didn't dwell on it and resumed his scavenging trip.

He still had several quests to complete.

The top priority was finding the Marriage Certificate his wife had hidden.

He was searching for it around the complex now, while keeping an eye out for other quest items.

Besides the Marriage Certificate, there was Grandma Mi's follow-up quest, [Find the Culprit], and a quest item for [Mirror of Truth].

The Find the Culprit quest was a hassle. It required nothing but searching.

Back Street had a complicated layout, with densely packed homes and all kinds of people. Finding one culprit there would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. He could put that quest off for now.

"Should I try the Mirror of Truth quest now?"

Li Ran wasn't sure whether the Mirror of Truth could trigger a quest involving the Rooftop Madman, but he could give it a try.

He glanced at the balcony on the eleventh floor of Building No. 3. "Day one of being jealous of that fool. He's having such a good time in the instance."

Li Ran wasn't worried that Lu Zhaohui would die from having all his yang energy drained. He'd already bought supplements to strengthen his kidneys before that could happen.

What worried him more was Song Linjia. She hadn't missed a single gathering at the Community Gathering Point in recent days, but today she was absent. He'd called and texted her, but his messages had vanished into the void without a single reply.

Something was clearly wrong. She must have run into trouble.

"Forget it. I'll go see that madman first."

With that, Li Ran headed toward Building No. 4.

He reached the elevator.

"Ding~!"

The elevator arrived.

Li Ran stepped in and pressed the button for the twenty-first floor.

The doors slid shut, and the elevator began descending.

"Hm?"

Li Ran frowned slightly. The elevator should have been going up, so why was it going down?

"Ding!"

The elevator arrived at the second basement level.

"B2?" Li Ran's brow furrowed.

The first time he'd driven Li Ziyang home, he'd entered the underground parking garage and remembered there being only one basement level.

Why did Building No. 4 have a second one?

Had they built two underground parking levels just for Building No. 4?

As the doors opened, a gust of cold wind swept into the elevator, chilling him to the bone like icy rain on a winter night.

But Li Ran's constitution was completely different now. This gust of cold air wasn't enough to scare him.

The second basement level was clearly eerie.

He looked outside the elevator. It was pitch-black, so dark he couldn't even see his own hand, let alone tell whether it was a parking garage.

"What kind of place is this?" Li Ran wondered.

He had no intention of stepping out. He still had a healthy respect for the unknown.

(The Dark Palace: A place of darkness filled with the unknown. They say only the dead can enter.)

A prompt appeared accordingly.

"Holy crap!"

Li Ran had never imagined that the second basement level of Building No. 4 would be a place like this.

Gazing into the endless darkness, he felt as if he were stepping into the underworld.

He'd better stay away from a place like this. Its pitch-black, deathly silence alone was enough to scare anyone to death.

Li Ran decisively pressed the close-door button, eager to get away from this dangerous place.

"Smack!"

Just as the elevator doors were about to close, a pale woman's hand suddenly slapped against them.

The hand was an inhuman shade of white. Black veins showed clearly beneath its pallid skin, and its nails were long and dark. A striking red sleeve peeked out from the wrist.

A woman in red...

Li Ran's expression shifted. A terrifying image involuntarily flashed through his mind, and he took a step back.

He summoned the Thunder Dagger and held it behind his back, keeping his sharp gaze fixed on the deathly pale hand.

"Sorry. I didn't scare you, did I?"

The elevator doors automatically opened again after sensing an obstacle. A woman in red stood at the entrance, her hair dripping wet.

Her voice sounded perfectly normal, though in this eerie place it came across as somewhat unsettling.

And her terrifying appearance in that red outfit only made it worse.

"It's raining. Good thing I made it in time."

The woman carried two takeout bags into the elevator. Only under its lights did Li Ran see that she wasn't wearing red clothes, but a red raincoat. The long raincoat covered her rain boots. Beneath her wet hair was a deathly pale face; her lips trembled, tinged purple, and yet her expression was apologetic.

"My grandpa was a fisherman. He once saved a thousand-year-old sea turtle. When I was born, my family invited a Fortune Teller to read my fortune. He said our family had earned great merit and that one day someone in our family would wear a yellow uniform. Now my wish has come true."

The woman lifted her red raincoat, revealing the yellow uniform of a delivery worker beneath. She joked cheerfully, seemingly in excellent spirits.

"Don't look at me like that. There are plenty of women who deliver food. You've never seen one before?" The woman glanced at Li Ran, transferred both takeout bags to one hand, then pulled a dry towel from her pocket with the other.

The woman looked to be around thirty, with delicate, pleasant features. Her wet hair clung to her pale face, making her look somewhat haggard and weathered, but she was in high spirits, a smile never leaving her face.

"Is it raining outside?" Li Ran asked.

He remembered that it hadn't been raining before he entered the elevator. And for the woman to get this soaked in such a short time, the rain must have been pouring.

It didn't make sense. Li Ran looked at the woman.

(Delivery Worker: Yang Ping)

(A-rank Mental Infector.)

(Mysterious Power: 1200)

(That day, a sudden downpour hit, and the number of orders soared. To make sure none arrived late, she raced through the rain. An accident ended her life.)

(Prompt: She is still rushing around to support her family and make a living. If she learns that she is already dead, she will kill everyone in front of her.)

(Prompt: If you're willing to help her deliver the remaining orders, you'll receive an unexpected reward.)