After Su Manluo left, Xiao Tangqiu felt several looks filled with malice fall on him and Tang Mianmian. He immediately knew that what Su Manluo had reminded them about was true and quickly pulled Tang Mianmian off to find a house. The doors of houses that were occupied couldn’t be opened but they were lucky and soon found a vacant house. Before anyone could get to them, they hastily entered the empty house.

As soon as they closed the door, the both of them breathed a sigh of relief. Tang Mianmian said with a face full of fear, “Those people out there looked like they have bad intentions. Do you think they’ll rob us in broad daylight?”

Xiao Tangqiu smiled bitterly, “It wouldn’t be strange if that was their plan. Do you still expect there to be police in this place?” Forget the police, this world probably wasn’t bound by any legal rules.

Tang Mianmian looked at Xiao Tangqiu blankly, “Then…… can we go back? Back to the real world?”

Xiao Tangqiu sighed, “I don’t know.”

“But….. but I still have a movie to shoot! After so many years of playing small roles, I finally found a director willing to give me the role of 3rd supporting male lead! That’s 3rd supporting male lead! It’s a role with lines and a storyline!” Tang Mianmian lamented in a daze, “I’ve been in this business for so many years. It wasn’t easy to get a character with lines and a storyline – a character that doesn’t have to die off so quickly…….”

Xiao Tangqiu gave a wry smile, “I had finally saved up enough for the down payment, and was about to buy a house…..”

They were both at an important turning point in their lives, but they were pulled into this game for no reason at all…… Never mind if it was the kind of game where one advances until one becomes a winner at life, but it just had to be a horror game!

The two men looked each other in the eye, revealing a self-mocking smile.

“Forget it, now we can only take one step at a time,” Xiao Tangqiu gnashed his teeth. “We should try our best to live and maybe find a chance to return to the real world!”

“Mhmm! It’s just a horror game. We’ve played so many horror games before this. We already have so much experience. What are we afraid of?!” Tang Mianmian nodded eagerly, “We’re experts in surviving horror games as well, and we can certainly make it with our experience!”

The both of them started to exchange information; Xiao Tangqiu told Tang Mianmian about the special skill card that he had obtained. Tang Mianmian was dumbstruck, “Fuck! It sounds so badass! What does your special skill card do?”

Xiao Tangqiu shook his head, “I don’t know either. It’s resembles our live stream channel. There are comments and rewards…… But I don’t know exactly what it’s used for.”

Tang Mianmian asked, “Can I have a look?”

Xiao Tangqiu had just thought about showing him the card when a black card appeared in his hand.

“I don’t know. I wanted to ask Su Manluo earlier, but I don’t know if we can trust her.” Xiao Tangqiu looked at the black card in his hand and solemnly said, “We need to keep our guard up. After all, our good fortune will arouse envy from others.

Tang Mianmian thought it over and added, “I don’t think Su Manluo can be trusted as well. Why should a District A player approach two rookies like us?”

“Anyways, it’s better to be careful.” Xiao Tangqiu put away the black card. “I’m guessing our next task should also be a D-level task as well. With our previous experience, we shouldn’t be as flustered this time. Once we’ve accumulated 1000 points, let’s go to District D to find out more information.”

Tang Mianmian nodded, “The last time, we were so muddled because we were new and had no experience. This time, we should be much better off.”

They looked through the house. Although it appeared shabby on the outside, it still had with some basic furniture and a vending machine. What surprised them most was the en suite bathroom. They didn’t need to go out to find a public restroom or a bathhouse. On top of that, the bathroom had a separate shower compartment.

Xiao Tangqiu was delighted to find that there was hot water available. He immediately took a hot shower. When he got back to the living room, he saw Tang Mianmian studying the vending machine.

Seeing Xiao Tangqiu, Tang Mianmian cried out at once, “Qiuqiu! Come and look at this! This vending machine…… “

“What’s wrong? Is it broken?” Xiao Tangqiu felt his heart drop.

“No! This vending machine is amazing! It has so many things!” Tang Mianmian’s eyes shone with wonder.

Xiao Tangqiu leaned over to take a look and was surprised to see several categories on the display screen of the vending machine. There were countless items in each category; not only food and drink, but also medicine, weapons and all sort of other things. It was more comprehensive than a department store or a supermarket.

“It’s like a system store in a game,” Tang Mianmian said while swiping up and down the screen. “But everything is crazy expensive except for food! Look! This crossbow looks impressive! But it’s 1,000 points! Forget about guns. Even ammunition has to separately purchased. We simply can’t afford them……….”

Xiao Tangqiu rubbed his chin, “If it’s all ghost-type instances, then regardless of whether they are hot or cold weapons, wouldn’t they all be useless?”

“Since these weapons are available, that should mean that there are instances where they can be used, maybe……. zombies? Disaster types?” Tang Mianmian imagined a scene filled with zombies, and immediately felt a chill. He liked watching zombie films, but that didn’t mean that he wanted to transmigrate into one!

“In addition to these weapons, there are also various yellow talismans, holy water, crosses…… but they’re very expensive. We can’t afford them.” Tang Mianmian continued to scroll down the screen, “With our current points, we can only buy food and drinks. If we scrimp, we can probably get some band-aids, cold medicine and hemostatic agents.”

What could they do?! They were too poor!

In the end, the two men discussed and intended to only buy food and the hemostatic agent. Food was very cheap – canned food and mineral water were both worth 5 points each. The hemostatic agent cost 10 points. Of course, there were also expensive food and beverages, but they couldn’t spend that many points to purchase them.

After they clicked on the purchase button, the points on their wristwatch were automatically deducted, and two cans rolled out, still hot to the touch.

Xiao Tangqiu got canned braised beef while Tang Mianmian got canned braised pork ribs. They were almost moved to tears as they ate their hot meal. The shock and terror that they had suppressed inside that horror game was brought out by the warmth they felt in their stomachs.

“Wuwuwu, I miss my mom’s spare ribs braised in soy sauce…….” Tang Mianmian ate while he cried.

Xiao Tangqiu’s eyes were a little red as well, and all of a sudden the food in his mouth didn’t taste as good.

After their meal, Tang Mianmian also went to take a hot shower. They climbed into bed early, but Xiao Tangqiu wasn’t sleepy. He stared at the ceiling with his eyes wide open and struggled through his first night in the city of the abyss.

They stayed in the house for a few days. On the seventh day, a messaged popped up on their wristwatches reminding them that they would enter the mission world again tomorrow. After completing a D-level mission, they could only rest for seven days and then had to enter the mission world again. If they didn’t enter voluntarily, they would be forced into it. Early morning the next day, they each exchanged a bottle of hemostatic agent and set off on their second mission.

When Xiao Tangqiu and Tang Mianmianmian reached the transfer square, it was very busy. A group of people were gathered around, as though they were watching what was going on. However, Xiao Tangqiu and Tang Mianmian were focused only on the mission at hand and the transfer modules in front of them.

It was only when they were about to enter the transfer module that Xiao Tangqiu looked in the crowd and saw a familiar yet unfamiliar face – Meng Xinghe! ……..No, that’s not right….. It was Shen Yuan.

Shen Yuan walked towards the transfer module. He was followed by his companions and seemed to be entering a mission as well.

Xiao Tangqiu heart skipped a beat, he wouldn’t be on the same mission as Shen Yuan, would he?

It gradually turned dark as the transfer module door slowly closed.

Little by little, his heart started to calm down. How was that possible? He was just a rookie whereas Shen Yuan was a District S player…… How could he be on a D-level mission?

He wasn’t sure how much time had passed before he heard the system’s familiar voice ringing in his ear, “Dear players, congratulations for accepting the S-level mission [Demon’s Castle]. Your mission objective is to [lift the castle’s curse]. The time limit is 7 days. After the mission is completed, you will receive 50,000 points, and if the mission fails, you will immediately be obliterated.”

“Finally, dear players, welcome to the abyss…….”

Xiao Tangqiu cursed, “……Fuck my life! S-level mission?! Are you kidding me? I’m just a pitiful rookie! Let me out!”

The next second, he opened his eyes only to see a bat flying towards his face. He immediately turned to hide in fear and at the same time, a lazy, arrogant voice sounded, “Aiya, there are actually two rookies…….” That person’s malicious laughter made him feel uncomfortable all over.

Xiao Tangqiu subconsciously looked ahead, but the moment his own eyes met a pair of cold, peach blossom eyes, he froze in place.

Meng Xinghe……

No.

–Shen Yuan.

~~~

P.S. Just fyi, after this, the chapters get really long (10k+ words), so I’ve decided to split them into 3 parts. Also, this is where the juicy bits and the action really start