In a daze, Zhang Yuanqing felt something soft and full pressing down on him, making it hard to breathe.
He opened his eyes and saw a round, delicate face wearing a mischievous smile.
His aunt-in-law grunted:
"You little brat, you dare stand me up? I'll sit on you till you're dead!"
She straddled her nephew and leaned forward, lifting her backside before dropping down hard.
Zhang Yuanqing let out a muffled groan beneath her and nearly lost his breath. Annoyed, he thrust his hips upward, flipping the woman over.
As his aunt-in-law cried out, "Ouch!", he saw that it was dark outside. Somehow, he'd slept from morning until night.
"Dinner's ready!"
His aunt-in-law lay on her side on the bed and kicked her nephew's backside in a relentless flurry.
"Could you not take revenge on me? I respect my elders and care for the young, so I won't hold this against you."
Zhang Yuanqing slipped to the edge of the bed, put on his shoes, and walked out.
The living room was filled with the rich aroma of food. His grandparents were eating at the dining table. His grandfather's hair was silver-white; he was tall and gaunt, with a stern expression and a humorless demeanor.
"So, how was the person I set you up with this time?"
At the table, Grandmother asked with some anticipation.
"Not bad. A million a year, an executive at a company. I'm satisfied, very satisfied!"
His aunt-in-law bobbed her head like a pecking chicken.
"You say that every time, and every time you block the person afterward." Grandmother jabbed her daughter hard in the forehead and scolded her:
"Use your head for once. Think about how old you are."
Exactly, exactly, Zhang Yuanqing thought gleefully from the side. Then Jiang Yu'er kicked him hard in the shin.
The two of them started kicking each other under the table, making it bang nonstop.
"If you're not going to eat, go back to your rooms!"
At Grandmother's shout, Zhang Yuanqing and his aunt-in-law immediately lowered their heads and shoveled food into their mouths.
"Grandmother, when's my cousin coming back?" Zhang Yuanqing asked.
His uncle's family lived right across the hall. A while ago, his aunt-in-law, who came from a wealthy family, and his free-spirited uncle had gone abroad on vacation. Since then, his cousin had been having dinner here.
"He said he had to work late tonight and wouldn't be back. That boy works himself to the bone. He's the complete opposite of his good-for-nothing father." Grandmother grumbled.
Working late? Zhang Yuanqing could only manage a disappointed "Oh."
After dinner, Zhang Yuanqing and Jiang Yu'er went back to their rooms, leaving Grandmother to clean up.
Back in his room, Zhang Yuanqing locked the door and called his cousin.
If he couldn't tell him in person, he'd do it over the phone.
But talking over the phone was never as clear as speaking face-to-face.
The call connected quickly, but the speaker played a recorded message in a foreign language saying the phone was switched off.
"Is he in a meeting?"
Zhang Yuanqing hung up helplessly. As a Public Security Bureau captain, his cousin was busy with work, and his schedule and meals were irregular. It wasn't unusual to be unable to reach him.
He was used to it.
Zhang Yuanqing lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling and letting his thoughts wander.
If Brother Bing's disappearance was caused by someone, and they were after the Black Card, I'd better be careful. The safest thing to do would be to give the Black Card to my cousin, who could then report it to his superiors.
Given the administrative rank of the Songhai City Public Security Bureau, the forces in Jiangnan Province couldn't exert much influence over it.
But the problem was, the Black Card was gone. That was what troubled him most. Zhang Yuanqing scratched his head in frustration.
The thought of a Black Card that could vanish into thin air was terrifying. If he couldn't find it, he couldn't turn it over to the authorities.
All he could do was come clean to his cousin, have him report it to his superiors, and then follow their instructions. I'm just an ordinary college student. There's nothing I can do.
Suddenly, Zhang Yuanqing felt a little pain and heat in his forehead. He scratched it, but the pain grew worse.
Huh? It hurts and feels hot. What's going on?
Somewhat bewildered, he got out of bed and walked over to the full-length mirror by the window, examining his reflection.
The mirror showed the face of a young man, with delicate features and fair skin. He had neither the steely resolve that came from being battered by society nor the weathered look that came with age.
All he had was the vigorous energy of youth.
On his forehead was a black crescent moon mark, so lifelike that its irregular patches were clearly visible.
At the bottom of the crescent was something like a progress bar. It showed: 90%.
What... Zhang Yuanqing stumbled back in shock. He rubbed his forehead hard, but the mark was like a tattoo; he couldn't scrub it off.
Why is there something like this on my forehead? When did it appear? Confused and panicked thoughts flashed through his mind.
"Wait! Isn't that the Black Moon on the card?"
He froze for a moment, then the pieces suddenly fell into place.
The Black Card hadn't been lost. It had entered his body and, in a way he couldn't understand, turned into the mark on his forehead.
Still confused, he noticed that the progress bar beneath the Black Moon Mark had changed to 92%. As the number ticked upward, his forehead grew hot.
What was this supposed to be, a supernatural phenomenon? High technology? A hallucination?
At that moment, the letter's contents rose to mind once more: This is a gift that can change your life.
"The Black Card really is a treasure. So my guess was right. Someone coveted it, and Brother Bing didn't want them to get it, so he sent it to me. That's why he disappeared."
Worried about Brother Bing, Zhang Yuanqing watched the progress bar with a flicker of anticipation.
What would happen when it reached 100%? Having witnessed the strange phenomenon before his eyes, he was filled with curiosity about what would come next.
After several more waves of burning pain, the progress bar at the bottom of the Black Moon finally reached the end. It hit 100%.
The next moment, a voice rang in his ears, flat and emotionless:
[Role Card reboot complete] [Name: Unnamed (please name immediately)] [Race: Human] [Class: Night Wanderer] [Level: 0] [Skills: None] [Experience: 0%] [Moral Value: 60 (initial value)]
Below the Moral Value was a note:
[Do not let your Moral Value fall below 60. You may not have had a choice before, but now please be a good person.]
Staring at the glowing blue Character Attribute Panel that had appeared before him, Zhang Yuanqing was dumbfounded for a long moment. What is this?
He tentatively asked, "System?"
As someone who spent plenty of time online, being knowledgeable was a basic requirement.
The emotionless voice echoed in his ear again:
[Please name your character immediately!]
A glowing blue handwriting box appeared on the Attribute Panel, which hung motionless in midair.
It wasn't a system. If it were, its intelligence was too low; it couldn't even communicate. Deciding to take things as they came, Zhang Yuanqing reached out and wrote his name:
Zhang Yuanqing
[Warning: Please do not use your real name.]
He couldn't use his real name? Zhang Yuanqing was taken aback, then wrote another name:
Yuanshi Tianzun
[Name registered successfully! The Spirit Realm will open in ten seconds. Yuanshi Tianzun, good luck!]
Hearing the voice echo in his ear, Zhang Yuanqing was stunned. What was going on? The Spirit Realm was opening? Shouldn't it explain what the Spirit Realm was first?
Before he could even calm down, the ten-second countdown had ended.
[Ding! Spirit Realm map opened. Welcome to "Night Wanderer—Sheling Tunnel," No. 0079.] [Difficulty: S] [Type: Solo (death-type)] [Main Quest 1: Survive for three hours.] [Main Quest 2: Explore the 0079 Spirit Realm. Current exploration: 0%] [Note: Items from outside the Spirit Realm cannot be brought in.] [About the 0079 Spirit Realm: Have you heard of Sheling Tunnel, one of Songhai's Ten Great Mysteries?] [Sheling Tunnel was built at the end of the last century. During construction, a work crew entered the tunnel on a rainy night to dig. They disappeared inside and were never seen again.] [The Public Security Bureau organized a search party. After several days, they found one worker in the mountains who had taken part in the excavation that night. The others were nowhere to be found.] [The lone survivor had made it out alive, but some unknown shock had damaged his mind, leaving him raving and incoherent. No matter how the officers questioned him, he kept repeating the same sentence.] [He said: "Don't enter the temple. Don't enter the temple."]
The voice in his ear grew fainter until it could no longer be heard. The scenery before his eyes rippled and blurred like a lake's surface.
A moment later, the image gradually steadied. Dim yellow light fell on uneven walls, and the ground beneath his feet was paved with fine gravel.
"Where am I?"
Zhang Yuanqing looked around in astonishment and realized he was inside an old tunnel. The outdated xenon lamps mounted on its arched ceiling cast a faint orange glow.
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