You're Awake

Before Chen Feng even opened his eyes, a stench like excrement hit his nose.

The hard surface beneath him left his whole body aching. He struggled to sit up and found himself lying in a dark room of about ten square meters, on filthy marble tiles.

So stuffy. So foul.

A chamber pot sat in the corner, the source of the smell. Boards sealed the window, and a heavy iron door stood shut.

What the hell is this place?

Chen Feng remembered leaving the Internet Cafe and seeing a group of people in white coats charge at him. Before he could call for Water Ghost, they knocked him out.

And now he had woken up here.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

Footsteps shook the ground. The door opened, and sunlight streamed in like a flashlight beam.

Sunlight? Was it daytime already?

Chen Feng raised a hand to shield his eyes. Before he could feel any joy at surviving into a second day, five people entered the room.

Four were thin and dressed in camouflage. The fifth wore a bloodstained white leather apron. He was enormous, with a body several times bulkier than a sumo wrestler's and a massive belly. Those earthshaking footsteps must have been his.

As his eyes adjusted, Chen Feng made out four expressionless young men and a huge fat man with a pig's head.

The Pig-Headed Man called out in a rough voice, "You're awake."

Where the hell am I? Who are you people?

Before Chen Feng could ask, the Pig-Headed Man cut him off. "Clothes. Take them off."

Still confused, Chen Feng asked, "What did you say?"

"Your clothes. Off. Now!" the Pig-Headed Man bellowed.

The roar nearly pierced his eardrums.

That guy in the pig mask... Something's wrong with him.

Chen Feng sensed danger from him, so he immediately called for Water Ghost.

Water Ghost, come to me!

The system's reply soon chilled him: [Water Ghost cannot be summoned on land when it is not raining.]

Fuck. No point picking a fight I can't win.

Chen Feng stared at the man and reluctantly took off his shirt. But the Pig-Headed Man was far from done humiliating him. "All of it!"

What?

Looking at the roomful of men, Chen Feng suddenly had the awful feeling he was about to be violated.

He definitely couldn't beat them. Two fists were no match for four hands, let alone ten.

If he spent one System Point on Diaochan's Blessing and made them fight each other, he might be able to escape.

Chen Feng weighed his options. With the Save-Load System, one System Point could buy him an extra life and another blind draw for a new system.

William Shakespeare had once said, "To be or not to be, that is the question."

By the same token, keeping his dignity or keeping his life was also a question.

But Chen Feng didn't have to agonize for long. The impatient Pig-Headed Man made the choice for him.

"You four. Help him."

At his command, the four men in camouflage swarmed Chen Feng. He fought hard, but it was no use.

"Let go of me! What are you doing?"

Chen Feng covered his privates. Being stared at while completely naked felt awful.

"Solitary confinement. Seven days."

With that, the Pig-Headed Man and the others took his clothes and walked off.

The moment the door closed, darkness swallowed the room again.

Fuck. What the hell is going on?

Chen Feng got up and hammered on the door, but no one answered. He was like a living man sealed inside a coffin, forgotten by the world.

[Day One]

With neither window nor door open, the air grew stiflingly stale. Add Cihang City's hellish heat, and the room felt like a giant steamer or sauna.

Chen Feng sat on the floor, his face grim.

He had discovered more bad news.

[Due to ████, Save 02 has been corrupted. A new Save 03 was automatically created when you woke up.]

In other words, the Save he had made on the third floor of Happiness Internet Cafe after defeating the Landlady no longer worked.

His new Save was set to the moment he woke up in this dark room. Even if he died now, he couldn't escape. He would have to strip and be humiliated all over again!

There's actually some strange power in this world that can interfere with the system?

Chen Feng finally understood why so many transmigrators before him had met their end here.

Just then, the door opened a crack, and someone pushed a bowl inside.

Chen Feng hurried over. Only when they brought food could he enjoy a moment of precious sunlight and fresh air.

The food was a mushy rice porridge that smelled sour. One sniff made Chen Feng want to vomit.

"Is this shit fit for a human being?"

"I'd rather starve than eat that."

[Still Day One]

Time in the dark room was hard to bear.

Chen Feng paced around. From the square patterns on the walls, he guessed the room was part of an old brick building.

He had once watched a palace drama in which consorts banished to the cold palace counted bricks to pass the time.

So Chen Feng started counting too. "One, two, three..."

[Still Day One, but judging by the drop in temperature, it was probably night.]

Some new neighbors arrived.

Cockroaches, house centipedes, and spiders.

The sight of insects crawling across the marble in the dark made Chen Feng's skin crawl. No joke—if any one of them scuttled onto him, he would break into a dance on the spot.

So he stayed on his feet and forced himself to think, trying to drive away his fear.

Think.

What kind of Otherworld is this?

At first, Chen Feng had thought it was a city world. Cihang City had seemed so normal on the surface that he couldn't blame himself for losing his first life so quickly. Who would have guessed it hid so many monsters and ghosts?

Now it seemed more like a city haunted by supernatural horrors. But if that was the case, one thing didn't add up.

Why would a transmigrator with a system for cultivating immortality appear here?

And out of all those systems, hadn't a single one of my predecessors managed to escape Happiness Internet Cafe?

Deep thought really did drive away fear.

Though he was shivering with cold, Chen Feng felt much better.

[Day Two]

From his cracked lips and unbearable hunger, Chen Feng felt as though ages had passed—a whole century, even. But when the door opened again and someone slid in an iron bowl of sour rice, he realized in despair that it was only the second day.

"Let me out, motherfuckers!"

Chen Feng grabbed at the gap in the door and tried to resist again. Naturally, he got another beating.

"When I get out, I'm going to kill every last one of you."

He cursed until he began to cry, and cried until he had no tears left.

So tired. So thirsty. So hungry.

Chen Feng looked at the bowl of sour rice on the floor.

He didn't know what day it was.

Chen Feng was much thinner than when he had been locked in.

How many times had they brought food? Was it day or night?

Chen Feng had no idea. Cut off from the world for so long, he had grown confused and lost all sense of time.

Then the door opened.

Chen Feng walked toward it mechanically, but no iron bowl appeared.

The Pig-Headed Man entered. Seeing Chen Feng slumped in the corner, he clapped his hands, gave Chen Feng a set of camouflage clothes, then had two young men in camouflage haul him out.

Outside the room, a weed-choked path led to a large training ground. Around a hundred young people in camouflage were practicing military combat moves there.

Behind the training ground stood a three-story building.

The Pig-Headed Man pointed to the sign on the building, which read "Internet Addiction Rehabilitation School," and said to Chen Feng, "Welcome. To the Fourth. Psychiatric. Hospital."