Dormitory Survival Game, Nightmare Sequence

Xu Lang, male, first-year student at Clear Sky University. He had loved having nightmares since childhood, was frail and sickly, and was known as the Kidney-Deficient Young Master.

On the first day after winter break ended, he had collapsed onto his bed and fallen asleep in his single dorm room.

Though the room was small, it had everything it needed—cute potted plants, a neat desk, and a cozy atmosphere.

Everyone already hated him. If he did not treat himself a little better, he might as well not live.

In his daze, Xu Lang shuddered all over and woke up.

The world beyond the window was dark and unfathomable, dotted with crimson, as though a basin of burning coals had been overturned across the sky.

Xu Lang froze, then clicked his tongue as if this were nothing unusual. "Still dreaming. I hate dreams within dreams the most."

Just then!

A cruel, silent, chilling voice, like the tolling of a funeral bell, sounded in his mind.

[Welcome to the Dormitory Survival Game]

[In this blood-mist world filled with blood and despair, the dormitories are your only shelters]

[Remember, protect your dormitory. Do not allow it to be damaged]

[The following are the three iron laws of the Dormitory Survival Game—]

[1. Before the dormitory door is breached, the dormitory will not collapse]

[2. The owner has absolute control over the dormitory. Tenants may not attack the owner inside the dormitory]

[3. The dormitory building will continue to exist]

[Please begin your performance. Survive, survive, survive!!!]

"Am I crazy, or has the world gone crazy?" Xu Lang rubbed his eyes and saw a blood-red mist seeping into the dormitory.

In an instant, the entire room rapidly transformed.

The paint on the walls weathered away, the desk vanished, and the fluorescent light became a lone hanging lamp... Aside from the lack of dust, it was no different from a haunted house abandoned for decades.

At the same time, the Dormitory Survival Game's voice rang out again.

[Chat room unlocked]

[Trading network unlocked]

[Information panel unlocked]

[Game countdown: 1 day. This game's content is "Zombie Assault." Duration: 5 days. Monster combat power will gradually increase]

Xu Lang quickly calmed down and tapped the chat room icon flashing in his field of vision.

[88 Cao Bin: Fuck, what's going on? A novel has descended into reality?]

[32 Ye Fan: I'm the protagonist. My name says it all!]

[177 Wang Haoran: Little Ye, your most urgent task right now is uninstalling that fanfiction app.]

[144 Wan Lei: Buddha, please bless me so I can safely return home and see my parents.]

[32 Ye Fan: Praying at the last minute... Sometimes I'm really scared of you foot fetishists.]

[200 Xu Lang: ...]

All sorts of messages filled the chat room. Xu Lang cautiously sent one as well and discovered that he could type with his thoughts, with virtually no errors.

Besides that, he could tap someone's name to add them as a friend.

The numbers before everyone's names were their room numbers.

"It's real! The apocalypse has really arrived!!!"

Suddenly, a hysterical shout erupted outside.

Like a starting gun, that shout sent all the students in their dorm rooms rushing out.

In the blink of an eye, the hallway was packed with people!

Xu Lang's heart tightened. He quickly braced his back against the door, afraid someone would force their way in.

As it turned out, he had overthought it.

No one paid any attention to Room 200.

With his back against the door, Xu Lang opened his personal information.

[Player: Xu Lang]

[Qualifications: A bug that could die at any moment]

[Room Number: 200 (Owner)]

[Attributes: Constitution 4, Spirit 6]

[Skills: None]

[Backpack 1/3: Beginner Gift Pack]

[Funds: 0 copper coins, 0 silver coins, 0 gold coins]

[Congratulations, you have met the prerequisites and awakened the "Nightmare Lord" sequence!]

[Sleeping earns Nightmare Coins, which can strengthen all things. The comfort of your sleep increases the Nightmare Coin conversion rate!]

[Current Nightmare Coins: 0]

"Nightmare Lord?"

Xu Lang was secretly astonished.

Just then, there was a crack from behind him that made him jump. When he turned around, a panel popped up in his field of vision.

[Shabby Wooden Door]

[Type: Facility]

[Level: 0]

[Defense: 4]

[Durability: 12/13 (Repair requires Wood x1)]

[Can be dismantled for: Wood x8]

[Upgrade Requirement: 10 Nightmare Coins]

[Description: Boohoo, because someone leaned against me too hard, I lost a point of durability. Please call me the ill-fated door.]

This panel resembled his personal information panel. It was like a teenager's bangs—once he paid attention to it, its presence became unbearably obvious, but if he ignored it, it barely registered. Its activation was quite intelligent.

"Can this wooden door stop zombies...?" Xu Lang's mouth twitched. He glanced through the peephole at the bustling scene outside, then pushed the bed behind the door and lay down.

The zombies would arrive in one day. He needed to seize the time and sleep.

The dormitory door was strange. It had no lock, and there were no windows in the room either. It was completely sealed off.

Oddly, that made Xu Lang feel somewhat reassured.

[Dreary Nightmare Bed (Permanently Bound)]

[Type: Facility]

[Level: 0]

[Durability: ???]

[Comfort: 10 (Can increase Nightmare Coin conversion rate by 10%)]

[Effect (Sleep): The Nightmare Lord gains 5 Nightmare Coins for every full hour of sleep, with a daily maximum of 8 hours.]

[Effect (Permanent): Cannot be dismantled, detects, and can be summoned again by the Nightmare Lord after being damaged.]

[Upgrade Requirement: 200 Nightmare Coins]

[Description: Having a little bed at the start is already pretty good. Hurry up, lie down, and grow stronger.]

Bang! Bang!

Xu Lang had no idea how long he had slept when someone suddenly kicked the door several times.

The voices of two male students came from outside.

"Xu Lang, are you dead or alive? The teacher told you to gather up. Why didn't you go? Didn't you see the messages sent to you in the chatroom?! Are you blind?!"

"Forget it, forget it... Xu Lang, are you home? If you're not, we're leaving. Okay, we can leave now. We'll just tell the teacher you weren't here."

"This is seriously ridiculous. I had to come all the way up to the tenth floor to call him!" the first boy shouted, then viciously kicked the wooden door again.

After that, the sound of footsteps faded away.

His good sleep interrupted, Xu Lang frowned deeply.

He knew those two guys.

The one who had kicked the door was Zhou Tao, while the other was Huang Hao. Both of them were usually very active and liked throwing their weight around.

Xu Lang had never gotten along with them in the first place. He had not wanted to respond the moment he heard their voices, and now that they had kicked his door, he felt even worse.

[Shabby Wooden Door]

[Durability: 11/13 (Repair requires Wood x2)]

Damn it, the durability really had dropped!

Xu Lang pressed his lips together and pulled up the chat log.

Not much had happened. The main thing was that someone had died.

A student had wanted to enter the blood mist, but the moment he approached its edge, a monster bit his head off.

Swallowed it in one bite!

The body had been dragged into the blood mist as well!

Some people had taken pictures of the headless corpse and posted them in the chat log. Just one glance made their SAN values plummet.

For a time, panic spread through the crowd. At their homeroom teacher's call, everyone had gathered together outside the dormitory building to construct defensive fortifications.

"So someone died. No wonder Zhou Tao was so angry... but that still doesn't mean he gets to kick my door!"