Extremely Dangerous

[Prompt: Main quest updated]

[Main Quest: Arrive at the "Abyss Video Hall" and complete your exclusive viewing task (1/7)]

The video hall's sign silently flickered red. Abyss—like some kind of warning of danger.

"After entering the video hall, the quest progress changed from 0/7 to 1/7. So the remaining six scoring points must all be related to the films I'm supposed to watch?"

"The instance is called 'Whispers of the Inner Demon.' It sounds rather psychologically punishing... And it's a 'solo custom' type, so it's probably going to make an issue out of me."

"But it'll soon discover that I'm solid iron—there's no crack to drive a needle into."

As Jiang Qian sorted through his thoughts, he observed his surroundings.

No one was running this video hall. In a spot serving a function similar to a bar counter sat a wooden table, cluttered with miscellaneous items such as notebooks, a calculator, and a beckoning cat figurine.

His attention first settled on an open notebook on the table. A single sentence had been simply written inside:

"Jiang Qian, a flawed and extremely dangerous human."

Jiang Qian frowned. "Who are you calling flawed? Can't you speak properly? I'm just not complete enough."

As for the assessment of "extremely dangerous," Jiang Qian did not care much.

Many strategic weapons were extremely dangerous, yet immensely valuable.

This notebook was most likely the instance's customized provocation toward the trial-taker.

It should be burned!

Jiang Qian patiently examined the various objects on the table.

Aside from the notebook, there was also a box of strange little black porcelain figures, which successfully caught his attention.

The box was covered in bizarre runes.

When he lifted the lid, he found six glossy black porcelain figurines inside. They had no faces, and their genders could not be distinguished. They lay side by side, with an empty slot left on the far left.

Jiang Qian took one out and examined it closely in his hand. The quest progress flashed through his mind.

He smiled, returned the items on the table to their original places, and turned his gaze toward the wall behind it.

On the wall were three posters and a comparison guide.

The posters advertised the films currently showing at the video hall. Their titles were: Judgment, Choice, and Vivid and Fragrant.

As far as he remembered, these were not films that existed in reality.

The three posters were also quite interestingly designed, carrying a powerful visual impact.

The poster for Judgment had a red background. At its center stood an enormous execution rack holding a headless skeleton, creating an immediate impression of bloody violence.

Choice, meanwhile, used a deep-blue ocean as its background. A huge whirlpool occupied the center, and a white ship pierced into it from the outside, like a sharp knife driven through the bullseye.

At a glance, the third film, Vivid and Fragrant, was clearly not something respectable.

Though it did not blatantly use nude live-action material, just a few silhouettes had already outlined the women's alluring, voluptuous figures in vivid relief, stirring endless fantasies.

The three films were being shown in Screening Rooms 1 through 3 respectively.

(In parentheses: Please enter in order.)

Jiang Qian's gaze paused on the final unmarked room. It stood right beside Screening Room 3 at the very end of the row, marked with a red X.

"Hmm..."

Having gathered the information about the room, Jiang Qian no longer hesitated. Carrying his loose bundle of steel rebar, he strode around the corner and arrived at the door to the first screening room.

There were no other incidents or gains along the way.

After Jiang Qian's figure disappeared through the door,

the box containing the black porcelain figurines on the table moved. Its rune-covered lid slowly lifted...

The door to Screening Room 1 slowly closed behind Jiang Qian.

The lighting here was dim and yellow, and the decor was somewhat dated, yet it possessed a relaxed, lazy sort of charm.

Jiang Qian heard the low hum of the projector starting up.

He had not lived through the era when video halls were popular. To him, this place was simply a crude little cinema.

It resembled a small cinema because the screen in this screening room was large enough, and comfortable fabric sofas had been placed opposite it.

Jiang Qian walked toward the sofa.

"A single-seater? That's not a very economical design."

At the very least, it should have had a loveseat. Maybe they could even diversify into another industry and steal business from the little inns nearby.

Jiang Qian silently evaluated it.

But when he recalled that this instance was a solo mode, he lost interest in imagining further.

Leaning on half a steel rebar, Jiang Qian sat down on the sofa and looked up at the screen.

At that moment, an instance prompt sounded beside his ear:

[Entering the viewing segment shortly]

[The material for Judgment comes from the trial-taker's real memories. We apologize for any offense caused.]

"Real memories?"

Jiang Qian became alert.

On the screen, the frozen image began to fill with rolling static...

Within that static, a line of text gradually emerged, and Jiang Qian's expression slowly turned grave.

"An honor student in everyone's eyes, with a cold-blooded sadist living inside him. His older brother discovered this. Then, his brother vanished..."

Capital Public Security Bureau Headquarters.

Special Affairs Center—Information and Intelligence Department—Supervision Group.

At this moment, the entire floor was brightly lit.

Inside a huge information transmission room near the stairwell, an entire wall was filled with computer monitors.

Information continuously updated across the screens, displaying languages and data from different dimensions.

Beside the various monitors, uniformed observers busily and nervously monitored and recorded the data.

Every monitor was connected to a single mainframe.

Amazingly, this mainframe did not even need to be plugged in!

Like a perpetual-motion machine that could never be drained, it tirelessly displayed its internal data across the dozen or so screens in the transmission room, full of inexhaustible energy.

Beside the monitor closest to the mainframe, a middle-aged man in army-green slacks and a white cufflinked shirt reclined in a swivel chair, an e-cigarette dangling from his mouth.

Suddenly, his attention was caught by a newly updated piece of data on the monitor.

"Hm?" The man's drooping eyes narrowed as the e-cigarette bobbed along with his muttering. "That murderous instance has claimed another unlucky bastard?"

"Yeah, Group Leader Bai. It's snatching people again," a staffer beside him replied.

"What a pain."

Bai Ji stared at the summary screen, his gaze fixed on that mysterious, ominous data entry.

AS1741 Whispers of the Inner Demon trial instance.

Since the descent of the Super-Species World, it had been one of the most mysterious instances, and one that had killed the most people.

According to incomplete official statistics, over the past twenty-odd years, fewer than five people had cleared this instance and become License Holders.

Of those rare few, only two remained alive to this day.

Both of them had become figures of extraordinary status within evil organizations.

One was a complete lunatic; the other, a terrifying pervert.

This showed Whispers of the Inner Demon's preference for selecting extreme talents: the overwhelming majority of trial-takers failed to survive the instance simply because they were not perverted enough.

Next, Bai Ji, leader of the Information and Intelligence Department's First Observation Group, followed protocol and logged the information as usual. He opened its progress tracker and flagged the clearance bar for special attention.

That was entirely out of duty. Otherwise, he did not think it was necessary.

For a normal human to enter this instance was tantamount to receiving a death sentence. There was no chance of obtaining an Identity Card. A large number of newcomers even died right at the start.

"Huh?"

A glint flashed through Bai Ji's eyes when he saw the progress bar slowly advancing.

The progress bar had actually moved?

Though the possibility was infinitesimal, if this person cleared the instance, it would mean that another budding oddity would join an evil organization in the future. That would certainly draw close attention from the entire official License Holder establishment.

And as the humble observer who had "promptly reported" the incident, even if he did not go down in history, he would surely receive the merit and commendation he deserved.

Bai Ji stared at the utterly motionless progress bar as though he could, through sheer force of will, glimpse the secrets of fate hidden in the data.

After concentrating for a long while,

he could not help but yawn...

"Ha~~ What am I even thinking? Where are there so many perverts... World peace is so much better~ Ha..."

Bai Ji yawned repeatedly as he rubbed his sore eyes.

He thought that he might have been pushing himself too hard lately, always harboring unrealistic fantasies about the responsibilities and performance expected of him as an observer.

He tried hard to compose himself, his expression solemn and mournful.

Silently, he offered his deepest condolences to this trial-taker who still had a breath left in him.

I got a contract! On the very first day after publishing, I received votes from readers, and I'm feeling incredibly confident. Thanks to:

Demon Blade Without Ji Yanqing

Three Thousand One

A Single Thought, Wild Waves

Thank you, dear readers, for your recommendation votes!

For now, the update schedule will be around 7 a.m. and 7 p.m. every day.