Task

Inside and outside were often two completely different worlds.

From the natural caves of primitive times, branches and grass used to shelter from wind and rain, nests built in trees, and even deliberately piled stone structures, all the way to humanity constructing wonder-like buildings with an almost showy attitude, "houses"—things no longer limited to the simple function of "living"—had always served as tangible boundaries separating inside from outside, blocking and concealing.

At this moment, the people inside were still desperately enduring the immense psychological pressure of the crisis while bustling around the small villa, opening doors and rummaging through boxes for supplies like protagonists in a traditional Western RPG.

Carefully but forcefully prying open dust-covered cabinets, lifting carpets and tablecloths stained with things they would rather not think about, feeling around the gaps behind wooden racks that had probably once held wine bottles, trying to open every intact drawer and inspect its contents—the more experienced shop owner, Lu Yun, even stubbornly kept tapping along the walls, listening for possible hidden compartments within...

These "guests," who were in some ways even more dedicated than home-invading robbers, naturally had no idea that they had just successfully drawn the brief attention of another "uninvited guest" outside.

Of course, that was not important. At least, it meant little to their current situation.

Focusing on what lay before them was what mattered for survival.

He Qiu, who had long grown used to rapidly catching fleeting shots for work, was quick-eyed and nimble-handed. From beneath an overturned wardrobe in a living room, within a narrow crack too small to fit even a few Cantonese cockroaches, he successfully found a newspaper that was neither contaminated by strange marks no one wanted to touch nor too badly damaged.

...Great. It was fucking all in English!

He Qiu had been pleasantly surprised for a moment, but his face immediately darkened again.

There was nothing he could do. Having chosen to give up the chance to attend university after graduating high school, he was a poor student who could not understand foreign languages at all. Faced with this situation, he could only ask someone else for help first.

Besides, in this Western-style villa where a tragedy had clearly taken place, no one wanted to stray too far from the others' sight.

After taking one look and barely determining that he had found something fairly valuable, he carefully kept the dining knife tucked in his sleeve and quickly returned to the living room. He gathered the others, who had likewise found little and looked somewhat ashen, and began studying its contents.

"This should be a newspaper from within the last three or four months."

Compared with the others, Lu Yun, the middle-aged shop owner who had worked with print media for many years when he was younger, merely touched it and made his judgment based on the natural dehydration and discoloration of the wood-pulp-heavy paper.

The newspaper's contents were simple as well. Using the only phone on hand and its offline dictionary, they quickly skipped over the large missing-person notices and found several key pieces of news.

Translated haltingly, the general content was nothing more than—"The British Government has issued a warning: an unknown Immunodeficiency Rabies is currently spreading rapidly through southern Ireland, with cases of transmission to other regions already appearing..."; "Patients whose initial symptoms include skin ulceration will, as the infection worsens, display symptoms resembling intensified hunger and loss of reason. Scotland Yard urges the public to reduce outings and remain at home..."; "The Army Guard is relocating important personnel, and the Royal Free Hospital north of London is no longer accepting patients..." and other news that sounded extraordinarily bad.

Great. At least they could roughly confirm where they were and obtain a few related clues.

But judging from the government propaganda in the newspaper, it carried the distinct air of trying to cover things up until the lid could no longer be kept on, then simply giving up...

All he could say was, it really was the grand British tradition!

Seeing this, He Qiu felt only a dull sense of unsurprised numbness. He even instinctively thought that, if he got the chance, he absolutely had to revisit that unforgettable political propaganda piece from back then—the one pronounced as a TV drama but written as a documentary—Yes, Prime Minister!

It was way too realistic!

Of course, objectively speaking, none of this information could provide much practical help for their current situation.

Understanding the situation was one thing. Being able to change reality was another.

If He Qiu remembered correctly, based on what he had learned from watching shows online before, dealing with zombies—things that were not exactly "particular"—was like fighting a forest fire. If the danger could not be extinguished at the outset, what followed would easily become a snowballing threat.

As for the silent city outside... the snowball had probably already started flying.

Furthermore, another key point was that the clearly printed publication date on this local newspaper, which already had layout errors and many overlapping characters from cheap ink, was around the turn of the millennium...

"Fuck!"

"Holy shit!"

Desperately squeezing his increasingly numb brain cells, He Qiu was trying his utmost to piece together some crucial truth from the information he had when, at that very instant, he suddenly heard Lu Yun, who was also struggling to decipher the oil-stained text in the newspaper, and Du Qifeng, who was keeping watch by the window, cry out in alarm almost simultaneously!

This was bad!

His whole body jolted. He Qiu realized something was wrong and nearly jumped to his feet before he could even speak.

He immediately understood why the two had reacted so unwisely.

As a familiar flash of silver passed through his vision, vast fragments of light like tiny colored pixels suddenly appeared before him without warning. They flickered and converged. Countless indistinct patterns and symbols cascaded down like a waterfall before finally condensing into an illusory projection—

[You have encountered relevant worldview information. Exploration Score +1. Temporary personal panel unlocked.]

[Your current identity: Temporary Visitor]

[Temporary language translation function unlocked.]

[Please review the relevant information.]

As lines of text flowed down from the indigo light screen before him like water, a feeling that was clearly horrifying yet strangely fervent surged from the soles of his feet all the way to the top of his head!

It felt as though his skull were about to explode!

It was the profound tremor that came from having one's former worldview shattered by truly confronting something beyond common sense!

For a brief moment, his mind went blank.

He Qiu did not notice the others' cries, nor did he care that the university student Du Qifeng's voice had begun to tremble. "Just as I thought..." "I knew this was something like the Main God Space..."

He did not even realize what he was doing. He merely raised a hand instinctively and reached toward the newest glowing line before him, letting his fingers pass effortlessly through the weightless words in the air.

Clearly, at this moment, everyone in the house was staring strangely at a seemingly empty spot before them.

And whatever they saw was probably visible only to themselves.

[Current world instance—Biohazard Apocalypse]

[World type: Newcomer Trial]

[Difficulty rating: One Star/Low]

[Main Quest One: Survive for twelve hours (current survival time: 3:22:51)]

[Main Quest Two: Reach an Exploration Score of five (current cumulative Exploration Score: one)]

[Main Quest Reward: After clearing this instance, receive 10–100 Universal Points based on performance in this quest (as this scenario is a Newcomer Trial, quest rewards gained after clearing +400%); no penalty for failure.]

[Additional Notice: Once a Temporary Visitor completes any main quest, the Newcomer Trial will be considered cleared. You may choose to activate a Main God ID and immediately leave this world.]

[Additional Notice: In the current mode, a Temporary Visitor is purely an invested consciousness. Death, injuries, and all other circumstances in the instance will not cause any effects to the original body apart from psychological trauma. Seize this opportunity and participate actively.]

[Note: "Hello, Temporary Visitor. Goodbye, Temporary Visitor."]

By comparison, the so-called temporary personal panel was concise.

[Temporary Visitor: He Qiu (Main God ID not activated)]

[Universal Points: 0]

[Rating: None]

It ended after only three simple lines, yet they stirred his heart immensely.

His gaze lingered especially long on "Main God ID not activated" and "Universal Points."

His eyes swept across the newspaper on the table. Once he confirmed that he could suddenly understand its contents, He Qiu finally slowly raised his head.

Looking at the people in the room, who had yet to fully recover their senses, the young photographer raised his still slightly trembling hands and firmly patted his own face, trying to loosen his somewhat frozen muscles this way.

The corners of his mouth pulled upward with difficulty, but he still forced out what might have been the friendliest smile of his life.

"Everyone, calm down. I know you're all excited, but our situation still isn't safe..."

Yet just as his words fell, He Qiu turned his head. His gaze swept rapidly across the unsettled faces in the room before finally settling, with an eagerness he could not conceal, on the youngest among them—the university student who still carried a scholarly air.

"Ahem." He cleared his dry throat, his voice carrying a trace of barely perceptible expectation and urging. "Brother Du, you know, compared to young people like you, people like us really don't understand this sort of thing. We'll probably have to rely on you to explain what this so-called [Main God Space] actually is..."