Chapter 5

Night fell. Yun Zouchuan sat behind her desk, quietly reciting vocabulary words. Two greeting cards were placed beside her, and she would occasionally glance up to see if they had changed.

The wall clock’s hand ticked with a steady rhythm. A glance at the time showed it was already half past ten at night.

Footsteps sounded ahead. Zhu Ming finally emerged from the training room, covered in sweat and sand. She came over to take a look.

“No anomalies?”

“No.” Yun Zouchuan noticed the trail of fine sand left in her wake. “Did you bust open the sandbag?”

Zhu Ming pretended not to hear.

At half past eleven at night, Zhu Ming, having dried her hair and changed clothes, sat on the sofa, unhurriedly wrapping gauze around her right hand. The crowbar was placed conveniently at her side, with the greeting cards set out on the coffee table.

Yun Zouchuan had fallen asleep on the other end of the sofa. For a moment, the entire studio was completely silent. Zhu Ming waited with perfect composure for what was to come. Since the card had promised a meeting tonight, and it was almost midnight, something should appear any time now.

Tap tap.

The moment the second, minute, and hour hands all aligned at twelve, a sudden wave of drowsiness washed over Zhu Ming. Startled, she immediately tried to stand up and shake it off, but the fatigue was faster, overtaking her completely before she could rise.

…

When she opened her eyes again, everything was pitch black.

Zhu Ming sat up from the bed and pressed down on the spring mattress beneath her, confirming this wasn’t her own bed. Just moments ago, she seemed to have been pulled into a thick, viscous darkness. After passing through that strange, constricting space, she had arrived here.

It was so quiet. There was absolutely none of the subtle machine hums inescapable in modern society—not even the chirping of insects or birds.

Zhu Ming felt around her body. She was still wearing her own clothes, and the gauze she had just wrapped around her hand was still there, but the crowbar wasn’t by the bedside. The room was initially very dark, and even after turning on the light, it wasn’t particularly bright.

What’s going on?

The room looked like a standard hotel room. A large bed in the center, a TV mounted on the opposite wall, an en-suite bathroom, and a row of hooks for hanging clothes. On the nightstand sat a dozen or so bottles of water, two packs of crackers, and that familiar invitation letter.

She pulled back the curtains. Outside was a dense, pitch-black forest. Looking into the distance, the faint outline of a mountain peak was visible, as if they were deep in some remote wilderness.

Zhu Ming picked up the invitation letter and opened it. The contents inside had changed.

The reverse side of the cover still bore that sigil, but the text now read:

【We cordially invite you to our world: The Night of Sacrifice.

Mission: Descend the Mountain

Tips: 1. There are 9 participants in this world.

2. Protection time countdown: 5:51

3. This mission lasts for seven days.

4. You are responsible for the consequences of mission failure.

5. Please explore other rules on your own.

Note: After completing the mission, tear up the invitation letter to leave this world.】

The second tip on the card was still changing. It looked like an ordinary piece of paper, yet it could do something like this. An ominous feeling rose within her.

Zhu Ming tried to tear it, but failed. Whether it was because she was still within the “protection time” or not, none of the doors or windows would open.

In the silent, dark night, she could only hear her own heartbeat and breathing. In this moment, it felt as if she were the only person left in the entire world.

No, nine participants total. That meant there were others besides herself. A-Zou had likely come too, since the contents of the greeting cards were identical.

Zhu Ming understood her own strength. She could faintly sense an irresistible constraint placed upon her body, rendering her special abilities useless.

After weighing her options, Zhu Ming reached a conclusion. The force that had “invited” her here and controlled this entire space was immensely powerful—far beyond her current ability to resist.

Since the other party had issued a mission, they would eventually have to let her out to complete it. She had pulled an all-nighter the night before and stayed up again tonight waiting for the invitation. Exhaustion surged over her like a tide. She simply crawled back under the covers and went to sleep—and for once, she actually slept very well.

…

When she woke up, it was almost noon. The sky was bright. Zhu Ming had been woken up by the heat.

In a daze, she washed her face and took care of her personal hygiene. She grabbed a bottle of water from the nightstand, drank a few mouthfuls, and then finally headed out to find food.

Last night, no matter how hard she pushed, pulled, or twisted, the door hadn’t budged an inch. Now, it opened easily. Zhu Ming stood in the doorway, her gaze sweeping rapidly across the scene outside.

Railings, stairs, open space, a hanging ceiling light…

It was a small holiday villa, two stories high. From the second floor, you could directly see the lobby on the first floor.

Zhu Ming’s room happened to be in the middle, while the rooms on either side angled toward the back.

At this moment, three women and five men were sitting or standing around the chairs and sofas in the center of the lobby. Yun Zouchuan was among them. And aside from her, everyone else’s expressions looked rather grim.

The sound of Zhu Ming emerging startled the group. They looked up, their faces changing to varying degrees. Several people looked terrified, as if they’d seen a ghost.

“Finally came out. Jeez, I almost thought you were dead.” The speaker was a tall, skinny young man.

Zhu Ming raised an eyebrow. As she walked downstairs, she pointed at herself. “Me?”

The boy looked about the same age as A-Zou, probably still a student, with some acne on his face and an energetic personality. “Yeah, we all came out as soon as it was light out. You were the only one left.”

“Alright, Xiao Cheng, since she’s okay, why don’t you explain things to her clearly?” An elderly man in a white tank top smiled, interrupting the boy.

“Wait a moment.” A girl with a ponytail suddenly spoke up. “Before we explain the situation, shouldn’t she first explain to us why she came out so late?”

The ponytail girl looked at everyone with a calm gaze. Her reasoning was very persuasive. “Whether it’s someone entering this godforsaken place for the first time, or someone who’s been here multiple times, everyone is conscious at the start. The invitation letter is right there on the nightstand. Combined with this god-or-ghost-given power of rules, everyone should pay close attention to the tips on the invitation, right? Most people explored this place as soon as it was light. The few who felt uneasy but realized there were people outside also came out. Only she… only showed up now.”

She looked at Zhu Ming probingly, carrying a sense of unease and fear deep in her words. “We couldn’t open your door. At first, we thought you were just sleeping, but we knocked, and there was absolutely no response from inside. We thought you were dead, yet here you are. I want to reiterate this seriously: there are ghosts here. Everyone who can enter this place is an Awakened without exception. Everyone knows how serious this situation is—this damned place hides many implicit rules. One misstep and you could be dead.”

Logical, well-reasoned, and thorough. If the person she was questioning weren’t Zhu Ming herself, Zhu Ming would have given her a thumbs-up.

Unfortunately, she really had just slept in until broad daylight and hadn’t noticed any knocking at all. Wait… this morning, she did vaguely feel a bit of noise that almost woke her up. She had groggily pulled the blanket over her head and promptly fallen back asleep.

Zhu Ming didn’t feel the slightest bit guilty. She spotted oranges in the fruit bowl on the coffee table and grabbed one to eat. “A-Zou.”

Hearing her name called, Yun Zouchuan simply said, “Oh,” and explained, “She’s my boss. We came in together.”

“What if she’s a ghost in disguise? Who can guarantee she’s not?” Although the ponytail girl had raised the doubt first, quite a few others shared this thought. For instance, the young man standing beside Ponytail, who seemed to have a good relationship with her.

Zhu Ming couldn’t help but laugh. “Since a character witness doesn’t count, tell me, how do I prove myself?”

For a moment, everyone fell silent.

In the nearly stagnant air, a snort of laughter rang out. Zhu Ming said, “How about this: just treat me as a ghost. What can you do about it anyway?”

Everyone looked at each other. It seemed… they really couldn’t do anything to her.

Under the rules’ restrictions, during the mission period, the Awakened had lost almost all effective means of attacking ghosts and phantoms. If she really were a ghost, attacking wouldn’t work, and it would only provoke her.

“Xiao Cheng said we can’t fight against ghosts right now. Boss, how about I slap you? If you pass out, it proves you’re not a ghost,” Yun Zouchuan opportunistically suggested.

“…” Zhu Ming was speechless. “Forget it. Everyone, just treat me as a ghost, alright.”

As she spoke, she lost interest in continuing the conversation with the group. She had gotten up with an important goal in mind: to eat.

The kitchen was very conspicuous, with a large refrigerator standing there. When she pulled on it, there was no resistance; it opened easily. But the contents inside were sparse, even rather limited.

Seven bottles of beer, plus some small cakes and snacks.

“Have you eaten?” Zhu Ming asked Yun Zouchuan, who had followed her over.

“No.” Yun Zouchuan shook her head. “Xiao Cheng said he wasn’t sure if this food was safe, so no one ate.”

That meant the food in the fridge had only been these things from the start.

Zhu Ming nodded. “What else did they say?”

Yun Zouchuan had memorized everything and relayed it to Zhu Ming. “That boy is called Xiao Cheng. The grandpa introduced himself as Old Man Xu. The ponytail girl is Miss Zhao. None of the three of them are first-timers. They said this ghostly place is mysterious and terrifying, controlled by a power beyond the world. Anyone who receives an invitation letter will enter here. Then there will be a second time, a third. They urged us not to even think about resisting. Oh, right—they said under the rules’ restrictions, the early part of the mission is relatively safe. The later it gets, the more dangerous. So we need to complete the mission quickly. Before you got up, we went outside the villa to look. There’s a barrier surrounding it; we can’t get out.”

So that’s how it was. The invitation letter’s mission was to descend the mountain, yet precisely that was prevented.

Zhu Ming picked out a few things she liked and took a bottle of beer. It still felt cool to the touch.

“Eat. It’s fine.” Zhu Ming stuffed a piece of cake into Yun Zouchuan’s hands.

Her bedroom had 14 bottles of water for a 7-day mission. Two bottles a day could barely suffice. Judging by the quantity, the drinking water likely wouldn’t automatically restock and increase. Since the crackers were placed together, the same logic should apply—they wouldn’t increase, and the amount was paltry. With the protection time’s existence, it could be confirmed that the water and food provided in the guest rooms were safe. This meant… the water outside probably had some problem, but food could be supplemented from external sources.

As the two were eating, an unfamiliar female voice suddenly interjected into their conversation:

“Xiao Cheng also said many Awakened who enter here gave this place a name: the Dark Realm Space. They jokingly call each small world a ‘dungeon.’ Sounds just like playing a game.”

“Aren’t you afraid I’m a ghost?” Zhu Ming uncapped her bottle and asked.

“My intuition tells me you’re not,” the female voice said gently. “Besides, I came in alone. Out there, it’s either couples or men. I feel safer moving with you two.”

“Alright.” The ice cream bars in the fridge were already half-melted; even picking one up through the wrapper, it felt soft. Zhu Ming was horrified and quickly shoved ice cream into the hands of Yun Zouchuan and the newcomer. “Quick, eat it, eat it! It’s melting.”

The heat today was excessive. To make matters worse, the power was out. Not only could they not use the air conditioning to cool off, but even a common appliance like the fridge wouldn’t hold out much longer.

Although the fridge was large, its contents were few. If everyone came over, there really wouldn’t be enough to go around. Fortunately, the others thought Zhu Ming was trouble and didn’t dare approach.

The three of them together polished off the food in the fridge that would spoil easily. Only then did Zhu Ming get a proper look at the girl who had proactively come over.

This girl had delicate, unremarkably average features—the kind with very little presence, the type you wouldn’t notice in a crowd. At least when everyone was gathered in the living room earlier, Zhu Ming had only noticed her last.

“My name is Xiao Xue,” Xiao Xue introduced herself, licking a bit of melted cream from her lips. “Xiao Cheng said that sometimes it’s inevitable to make enemies with other participants in dungeons, so people usually don’t give out their real names.”

In that case—

“My name is A-Zou.”

“My name is Zhu Ming,” Zhu Ming said. “Feel free to come seeking revenge anytime.”

.

A short while later, perhaps the others felt hungry too, and seeing that Zhu Ming’s group had eaten without any side effects, a few more people came into the kitchen.

Miss Zhao the ponytail girl and her boyfriend, as well as a middle-aged man who was yawning incessantly, walked over.

Miss Zhao looked at Zhu Ming. “I questioned you earlier because we have to be careful. After you left, we discussed it again and felt we shouldn’t suspect teammates so casually. After all, there are nine of us here, no more, no less.”

The yawning middle-aged man called himself Old Gao. He was portly and out of shape. “Exactly, exactly. It’s only just begun. Let’s try not to have conflicts. Ah, I’m really unlucky. I can’t do anything except see ghosts. How come I got an invitation… It’s so hot.”

He then impatiently grabbed an ice cream bar and started eating.

The high heat was sheer torment for a soft, overweight, middle-aged office worker like Old Gao. A cool ice cream bar going down his stomach was much more comfortable. Unfortunately, it was a bit melted, leaving his hands sticky.

Old Gao turned on the kitchen faucet to wash his hands. An accident happened just then. A stream of red liquid suddenly gushed out, making Old Gao scream and stumble backwards.

Everyone’s eyes gathered on the sink. After the eerie red liquid first flowed out, the water slowly returned to its normal color.

Miss Zhao’s boyfriend, Xiao Song, mocked him, “Just rust. Look how scared you are.”

He gave Old Gao a contemptuous look, then stepped forward first to wash his hands and even his face. Old Gao, however, had a good temper and just chuckled. After Xiao Song finished, he also went up to wash.

Seeing Xiao Song get cooled down by washing his face, Old Gao felt tempted as well and proceeded to wash his face and neck.

As he washed, Old Gao suddenly stopped and rubbed at his face. “This water quality is pretty bad.”