Chapter 26

The doors opened, and Su Cheng got off with the girl slung over her shoulder.

Once on the platform, she laid the still-unconscious girl on the ground beside her.

She turned back. Fifteen ghosts waved goodbye to her from the train windows.

Each stretched their lips into a standard smile, their stiff faces making those smiles inexplicably eerie...

Even though Su Cheng knew they meant no harm, she could not help getting goosebumps.

Wait, fifteen?

Including Chen Renping, shouldn't there have been sixteen?

Author's note:

Made a few edits~ Previously, she was mostly referred to as the red mist ghost; I've now changed that to her real name.

Chapter 26

Before Su Cheng had time to think, a mechanical voice sounded:

[Calculating instance results]

[Congratulations to the owner of unit 1216, Apartment 1167, X Street, Zone E, on successfully completing the mission. Total points earned: 2,600]

[You may select items within 2 m² around you to take out]

Five storage slots appeared before her eyes, with a sixty-second countdown suspended above them.

[Notice: each storage slot can hold only items of the same type, with a weight limit of 3 kg per slot. Living things and items more than ten times your own size cannot be selected]

Su Cheng took off her bloodstained trench coat and threw it away, putting the dagger, chocolate bars, gun, and other things in its pockets that would not fit in her smart bag into the storage slots.

She had gained a great deal from this instance-not just points, but useful items too.

Following the usual procedure, she would fall into the medicinal solution in the medical pod. Putting these things in the storage slots would send them straight to her apartment and keep them from getting wet.

The sixty seconds ended.

But an alarm suddenly sounded.

[A supernatural entity has been detected on the owner while leaving the instance. Please confirm. Confirming will generate a contract; canceling will expel the supernatural entity.]

Su Cheng looked at the bracelet that had appeared on her wrist. After the system detected the anomaly, a red exclamation mark appeared over it.

Su Cheng took off the bracelet and heard Mu Ling's voice in her ear:

"I want to go with you."

No wonder there had only been fifteen passenger ghosts. Mu Ling had followed her off the train.

Su Cheng focused her gaze and thought for a few seconds. With the system acting as an intermediary, taking Mu Ling with her was not out of the question.

She immediately set a condition. "Then from now on, you'll have to listen to me about what you do."

Mu Ling's voice was ethereal. "As long as it doesn't cross my bottom line, I can."

Now that they had reached an agreement, Su Cheng silently said, Confirm.

[Owner has confirmed...]

[Contract generated.]

[Supernatural entities cannot enter the apartment and will be temporarily stored by the apartment. The entity will be available for continued use when the owner enters an instance. Storage fee: 500 points per month]

Su Cheng's bracelet disappeared, sent into a "storage locker" by the apartment.

But an intangible connection of some kind had formed between her and Mu Ling.

[Teleporting...]

Space twisted, and Su Cheng's vision went black. With a splash, she fell into the familiar medical pod, sending green liquid flying.

Lin Deng put down the tablet. "We meet again so soon."

Lying in the medical pod, Su Cheng gave a slight nod. Her constantly tense body and mind finally relaxed completely, and she suddenly felt utterly exhausted.

Lin Deng said, "You don't even have the strength to speak. Judging by your condition, you went to a special instance."

Su Cheng mustered her energy. "I did. You have a good eye, Dr. Lin."

Lin Deng continued, "The wound on your calf is healing quickly on its own. It should be healed by the time your medicinal bath ends."

"Mm."

Lin Deng took a small white medicine bottle out of a drawer.

"There are three calming pills in here. My recommendation is one a day if you experience adverse psychological symptoms such as nightmares, unease, or mental fatigue."

"Quite a few people are left with psychological scars after leaving a special instance. It's not uncommon. If the aftereffects worsen, buy some medicine from the supermarket yourself."

"All right, thank you."

"This medicinal bath lasts ten minutes. You can close your eyes and rest for a while. I'll play some soothing music. This treatment is only available after special instances."

After speaking, Lin Deng clicked on the computer. A melody Su Cheng had never heard filled the examination room, an ethereal voice singing indistinct lyrics...

Su Cheng closed her eyes and listened.

The pleasantly warm medicinal bath and

soothing

music eased her body and mind considerably...

Ten minutes later, Su Cheng returned to her apartment with the medicine bottle.

[Dear resident of unit 1216, welcome back~]

[To commemorate your first successful completion of a special instance, the apartment will present you with one single-person meal voucher and one Apartment Joint Competition (Street Competition) ticket. We hope you will keep up the good work!]

Two vouchers appeared out of thin air on the table.

[Single-person meal voucher: tear to use. One random single-person set meal will arrive within five minutes.]

[Apartment Joint Competition (Street): tear to enter the competition area. Generous rewards, relatively high danger level. Registration is at the end of the month. Please await the system announcement for the exact time.]

The calendar on the wall updated: year 0, month 0, day 12.

Time flowed differently in the special instance than in the apartment. Only one day had passed.

Su Cheng put the medicine bottle on the table, found a change of clothes in the wardrobe, and headed for the bathroom.

She was clearly back in her apartment, but for some reason, she could not muster any energy. Every step felt heavy and exhausting.

Bathing first and then sorting her supplies had become her established routine after returning to the apartment.

Su Cheng washed the boning knife and dagger she had brought back from the instance and put them in her smart bag with the gun.

She could never go wrong keeping weapons like these on her at all times.

She washed the Twin Fish Jade Pendant and put it around her neck.

Taking stock of her current supplies, aside from the two remaining tubes of nutrient solution, she still had plenty of bread, biscuits, and water brought back from the tsunami instance-enough to last her a week.

She had only recently brought back consumable household supplies such as toilet paper, sanitary pads, toothpaste, laundry detergent, and body wash from the tsunami instance. She had not used much and was not short of any for now.

She had used little medicine and still had ample supplies.

Her purely physical weapons were a shovel, a chainsaw, and a gun.

Her physical weapons capable of combating supernatural entities were an enchanted dagger and an enchanted boning knife.

The Twin Fish Jade Pendant was an item that enhanced her own abilities.

Su Cheng took out her notebook and recorded the date. There were no supplies she urgently needed for now.

But food and household consumables still took priority, followed by specially enchanted weapons and clothes for every season.

"It feels like I don't lack anything, but also like I'm short of everything..."

If she felt that way, she really had not stockpiled enough.

Afterward, Su Cheng tore up the meal voucher, curious about what food the apartment's single-person set meal would contain.

Although nutrient solution offered the best value, it did not satisfy her taste buds. She hoped this single-person meal would not disappoint her.

Su Cheng lay on the sofa and opened her phone.

The first thing she checked was Yan Yu's reply, which was marked as having arrived yesterday.

[Yan Yu]: Special instances really do test your mind. I'm not feeling great. How about you?

[Su Cheng]: I only just got back. I feel weak all over.

[Yan Yu]: Want to meet up tomorrow? There's a lot that's easier to talk about face-to-face.

Go out?

Su Cheng looked at the black mist outside the window. White mist indicated daytime, and black mist indicated nighttime. Either way, she could not see what was outside.

She had never left the apartment building. Since Yan Yu had invited her, this was a good chance to take a look outside.

[Su Cheng]: Okay.

[Yan Yu]: Send me your location. Just rent a bicycle or an electric bike to get out. I'll drive over and pick you up outside your apartment building.

[Yan Yu]: I can introduce you to someone too-the friend I mentioned before, who went to a special instance before I did.

[Su Cheng]: Okay.

[Yan Yu]: Eleven tomorrow morning?

[Su Cheng]: That works. See you tomorrow.

[Yan Yu]: Get some rest. See you tomorrow.

Knock, knock.

Someone knocked on the apartment door.

It was probably her single-person meal.

Su Cheng got up to open the door and saw a round robot waiting outside with a meal cart on its back.

"Please collect your delivery~"

Robots like this were not particularly rare in the real world either. Many hotels used robots to deliver takeout or other items to their guests.

Su Cheng lifted the bag off the meal cart.

The robot's screen displayed "Collection complete," and it rolled off to take the elevator and leave.

"Could it be a supermarket robot?"

Su Cheng closed the door, sat at the dining table, and opened the bag. Inside were a small container of rice, a box of roast chicken, and a box of fruit and vegetable salad.

When she opened the roast chicken's box, a delicious aroma wafted out. Su Cheng's eyes lit up. She had wanted to eat this roast chicken from the supermarket before, but had not been willing to spend the money. Now she finally got to have it!

Su Cheng eagerly put on gloves and tore off a chicken leg. She took a bite. Crisp outside and tender inside, it tasted better than any roast chicken she had eaten before!

Su Cheng took big bites of chicken, eating a couple of mouthfuls of salad whenever it became a little too rich.

There were no side dishes for the rice, but its grains were separate, fragrant, and soft, as though steamed in a rice cooker. She could taste a faint sweetness, and it was delicious even on its own.

After eating and drinking her fill, Su Cheng cleared away the rubbish.

Once she had washed up, she lay on the bed, relaxed, and turned on the television. This was what life should be like.

Su Cheng took out her phone and checked the two group chats as usual.

The group owner was still announcing the list of deaths.

Meanwhile, people in the residents' group without the group owner had begun trading supplies, mainly food and household necessities.

But the chat history contained only posts from those offering trades, with no replies. Anyone interested had to discuss it through private messages.

This was to prevent anyone from getting jealous and secretly taking screenshots to report them.

The supermarket's prices were too high. Buying things with points was simply not worth it.

Where there was a market, there was trade. If residents arranged to trade outside the apartment building, it did not count as breaking the rules.

Su Cheng put down her phone, took one of the pills Lin Deng had given her with some water, turned off the television, and snuggled under the covers, closing her eyes.

She did not sleep soundly.

Although she had taken a calming pill, she still slipped into a nightmare.

In her dream, she was back in the carriage with eyes covering its walls. Only this time, her own eyeballs were on that wall, leaving just two bloody holes where her eyes had been...

All the blood in her body poured out through her eye sockets, staining her entire face red. She flailed helplessly in the darkness, becoming a figure drenched in blood...