“Xiao Tangqiu? Xiao Tangqiu!”

……

Who is it?

Who’s calling him?

Xiao Tangqiu had difficulty opening his eyes, but in the next second, he was faced with Tang Mianmian’s zoomed-in face because he was leaning too close his own face. It almost scared him into cardiac arrest.

Seeing that he was conscious, Tang Mianmian got excited, “You’re finally awake! That’s great! I thought you were dead!” As he spoke, he started to cry.

Was he joking?! How could he be dead? He was clearly alive and well……

Wait a minute… he seemed………to have really died?

…… Didn’t the BOSS stab a hand through his chest? So was he dead? Wait a minute! There seemed to be something else…… What the hell was live stream channel thing about?!

“Tang Mianmian?” Xiao Tangqiu struggled to stretch out his hand and touched Tang Mianmian’s face. He found that it was warm to the touch, so he felt his own face as well. It was also warm. “You’re not dead? I’m not dead either? What happened?” If they were already dead, how could their bodies still feel warm?

Tang Mianmian dived into Xiao Tangqiu’s arms and sobbed loudly, “I don’t know what happened….. I hid in the wardrobe the entire time. I didn’t even dare to look out. After a while, I heard movement outside, so I looked out quietly through the crack in the door…… and then I saw the BOSS kill you! I thought you were dead!”

Bit by bit, Xiao Tangqiu started to recall that scene, and couldn’t help but smile bitterly “I also thought that I was finished……”

Hearing Tang Mianmian’s words, Xiao Tangqiu shifted his attention to their surroundings. His heart sank at once – obviously, this wasn’t the real world. Were they somehow drawn into a new mission without their knowledge?

This was a really large square, much bigger than the public recreational square downstairs of Xiao Tangqiu’s apartment, where several dance aunties would fight for space and gather every day. It was almost impossible to see till the end. A tall sculpture stood in the middle of the square, facing Xiao Tangqiu.

It was a sculpture of a woman. The sculpture seemed to be arrogantly looking down as it overlooked all life from its high position. Although there were no eyeballs in its eye sockets, Xiao Tangqiu thought he saw a hint of pity for all things living within those eyes.

With Xiao Tangqiu’s extremely limited knowledge of the arts, he really couldn’t tell whose statue it was, but subconsciously he felt a little uncomfortable. So, he turned away to look elsewhere. Not far from the statue was a row of horizontal white cylinders, which looked a bit like a coffin at first glance. But at a closer look, they resembled the transfer chambers depicted in holographic video games.

He stared at it for a while, only to find that behind the row of white cylinders were rows and rows and rows of……. the square was almost filled up with these cylinders!

“What the fuck?!” Tang Mianmian had also caught sight of those things, and was shocked, “What the hell are they? Coffins? Is this some sort of special morgue? “

“Such a big morgue? Plus it’s open air?” Xiao Tangqiu gave Tang Mianmian the side eye, “Stop spouting nonsense! Didn’t you see someone climbing out of one of those things?”

Tang Mianmian’s face twisted, “Isn’t that more frightening?! The corpse has come back to life ah!”

Xiao Tangqiu stared intently at those who climbed out of the white cylinders. Almost instantly, he confirmed the identities of those people. They were probably “players” like he and Tang Mianmian.

Just then, a group of people suddenly appeared out of thin air in the empty space beside Xiao Tangqiu and Tang Mianmian. There were about seven or eight people; some of them were awake, others were unconscious, just like Xiao Tangqiu had been earlier.

When that group of people realized that they were somewhere else, some of them cheered, some looked like they were in a trance, while others cried and shouted.

“We‘ve finally escaped! We did it!”

“We….. survived? We actually……. survived……”

“Older Brother! Where’s my older brother? Why isn’t he with us? Older brother!”

Xiao Tangqiu also discovered the identity of this group of people at once. They were most likely rookies like he and Tang Mianmian, while the other group of people who climbed out from white cylinders over there were also players, but they were obviously experienced old players.

Xiao Tangqiu imperceptibly studied the old players. The old players were clearly used to new rookies appearing in front of the sculpture. They paid no attention and didn’t even spare a glance to that bunch of noisy rookies.

After leaving the white cylinders, they went their own separate ways. Some walked towards outside of the square, while others walked to the front of the sculpture in the center.

Xiao Tangqiu didn’t know what those people wanted to do and couldn’t help but stare at them for a while. But then, he saw them standing in front of the sculpture with their eyes closed as if they were praying. Then, a light shone from the sculpture’s eyes and fell onto their bodies

And then they disappeared.

Xiao Tangqiu was dumbfounded. Tang Mianmian’s jaw dropped in shock as well, “What the fuck is that?! They…… they……they disappeared?!”

“It’s just a transfer array. Don’t make such a big fuss.”

A slightly conspicuous, cold female voice rang out. Xiao Tangqiu subconsciously turned to look; he saw a woman dressed entirely in form-fitting black clothes, slowly walk up to them.

This woman was tall, with a strong physique and pleasant facial features. In the real world, she would be regarded as a beautiful woman, but her eyes were weary with the vicissitudes of life and her face looked tired. “In the city of the abyss, there are many things you can imagine and many things that you can’t. Anything unbelievable can happen. Don’t be surprised. You’ll soon get used to it….. just like us.”

Tang Mianmian had just narrowly escaped death when he was suddenly faced with a big beauty. He stared fixedly at her, his eyes almost popping out.

Xiao Tangqiu finally realized the biggest difference between the newcomers and the old players. Take Tang Mianmian as an example – although he was frightened, his eyes still gleamed with hope. The woman dressed in all black had reacted calmly as if she wasn’t affected by the instance world at all, but there was apathy in her expression and eyes…… Even though the other old players who had just crawled out of the white cylinders had different expressions on their faces, there was the same apathy within their gaze.

He looked at the woman in black with some vigilance, “Who are you? What is the city of the abyss?” He didn’t believe that there were people in this terrible place who would show goodwill without a reason.

The woman in black smiled, “Don’t you already know what the city of the abyss is? This is the city of the abyss. As for my identity……. You’re already acquainted with me.”

Xiao Tangqiu paused, “Yan Yiyan?” Although this black-clad woman looked completely different from Yan Yiyan, she did say that anything incredible could happen here……. then, changing her appearance shouldn’t be a big deal…….

The woman in black sighed, stretched out her hand and stroked her thick, luscious hair, “I almost forgot to say…. Dear rookies, welcome to the abyss!”

Xiao Tangqiu felt as though he had been struck by lightning.

Beside him, Tang Mianmian had finally reacted, immediately crying out loud, “Fuck! Fucking hell! Are you Luo Mansu?!” The big baldy with the big gold chain!

The big baldy had suddenly changed into a beautiful woman. Should he be amazed or was he disillusioned? Tang Mianmian’s face contorted; he asked her in a daze, “Are you a…… big baldy……. or a Buddhist monk…….”

Xiao Tangqiu earnestly pondered over his question, “Is there any difference between the two?”

The woman in black smiled, “Let me formally introduce myself. My name is Su Manluo. I’m a District A player and the captain of Thorn Team. You can regard everything that happened in the instance as a test for you newcomers. As the captain of Thorn, I formally invite you to join our team.”