Underworld Player

Behind the couch, a trembling figure crouched with his hands on his head, desperately trying to make himself as small as possible.

Cheng Wen could hear the things growling outside—they seemed to have made it to the door and were threatening to rush into the house at any moment...

Those things were unnatural abominations that did not belong in the world. It was bad enough that they looked horrifying on their own and acted with pure malevolence, but the way they swarmed, like a sick tide, was a sight guaranteed to give anyone nightmares.

The pace at which they advanced was slow, but Cheng Wen was trapped inside with no way out. All he could do was watch in despair as the hostile wave surged inexorably toward him.

As much as he wanted to escape, there was nothing he could do. The front door could not even be locked, so he was unable to mount the most basic defense.

Coming...

They're coming...

The horrible noises they made were getting louder, filling his ears...

As he felt an icy-cold sensation creeping along his scalp, Cheng Wen could only sit in abject horror and total despair as he waited for the inevitable end.

What happened... to this world?

Why... did such monstrosities come into existence?

———

What would a poor person do if they suddenly found themselves rich?

Bai Zhi couldn't speak for anyone else, but what he wanted, in his present situation, was a new place to stay, pronto.

The apartment he was renting now, above the street food alley, was very affordable, but that was it's only virtue. The worst thing about it was the lack of air conditioning. Although fall was around the corner, the ambient temperature remained as high as ever, and Bai Zhi's cellphone chimed daily with the amber alerts that the government issued about the heat.

In fact, the temperature was not only high, but seemed to be climbing slowly, too, which could have been related to the proliferation of supernatural entities.

Part of the reason that the other "Bai Zhi" used to pulled all-nighters at the internet café was the free air-conditioning, because the alternative was going home to his sauna of an apartment, where turning on the fan did nothing but spread more hot air around.

Now that he was rich, Bai Zhi had no intention of putting up with a low standard of living any longer. As soon as he returned from saving the students at the hospital, he threw himself into the task of looking for his next residence.

The first, and most important, criteria was that it had to come with a lot of space—ideally, his own swimming pool or perhaps a golf course. Why? Well, rich people are eccentric like that.

After a full day of house hunting, Bai Zhi, with his million yuan in hand, finally found the perfect house, situated in a residential community not ten minutes away from campus. It had three bedrooms, a living room, kitchen, and bathroom, with air conditioning and all the necessary household appliances... but no pool, unfortunately.

"Now that that's out of the way, time to get myself to the orphanage and pick up my stuff—I can't have anyone finding it..."

Stretching out on the living room couch in his new home with his arm behind his head, Bai Zhi turned on the AC* and began pondering on his future plans.

The first order of business was definitely getting to Level 5 as soon as possible. Everything else was secondary. After all, the world was getting more deadly by the day, and every scrap of power he could gather was an indispensable tool for self-preservation. In the turbulent times ahead, it could mean the difference between life and death.

The problem was that experience was hard to come by, and of the four methods of earning experience, it appeared that the only option available to him now was actively seeking out and getting involved with a supernatural entity on his own—as unlikely as that was.

Despite the fact that supernatural entities were increasing in number, they were distributed all over the world, making the chances of him just running into one on a casual stroll somewhat unlikely.

Not to mention the unpredictability of their power levels. If he were so unlucky as to come across an Impossible class threat, Bai Zhi's legacy might amount to an exemplary case study of what not to do as a Player.

All the risks and challenges boiled down to the fact that he was still too weak, with nothing but that small knife to defend himself with...

In the middle of Bai Zhi's deliberations, the System suddenly butted in with a notification, which was a welcome change from its several days of inactivity. A transparent screen materialized before him.

[ New Game Available! All Players are Invited to Take the Challenge ]

Below the simple message was a map of the town with a flashing red light on it, encircled by a dotted line.

A new "Game", huh?

Bai Zhi quirked an eyebrow and got up.

"Games", another one of the strange phenomena in this world, were pocket dimensions that could manifest an amalgamation of several different games, and were usually less dangerous than encountering a supernatural entity. Players who successfully cleared a Game would receive the appropriate rewards, while those who failed to do so would receive a penalty.

The reward for clearing Games could vary from tools and equipment generated within the game to special items like potions.

Similarly, failing a Game could incur a range of penalties. Players could lose Coins, have their equipment destroyed, their attribute points permanently reduced or even lose a level—and would count themselves lucky for such light penalties.

Heavier penalties included losing a randomly-selected organ, gaining a new, random organ, or falling into a coma, et cetera. The worst penalty that a Player had been known to suffer was death, and—perhaps a fate worse than death—having their consciousness completely stripped away and forced to become an NPC.

Bai Zhi was not the only one to receive this notification. Each time a new Game appeared, the System would notify all Players within a reasonable vicinity and invite them to challenge it.

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained", as they say. The potential benefit of clearing, and eventually Extracting, a Game was too great to pass up, so without fail, as soon as a new Game appeared, Players were sure to flock to it in droves.

After a moment's thought, Bai Zhi reached out a finger and tapped on the flashing red dot. Immediately, a countdown timer popped up next to it.

[ 2 : 59 : 37 ]

[ 2 : 59 : 36 ]

[ 2 : 59 : 35 ]

The Game will only be available for three hours... and it's at the shopping mall in the center of town. If I leave now and catch the next bus, it'll take me twenty minutes to get there...

Gah, I don't even know what game it is! Please let it be Tetris, or perhaps FreeCell**..."

As such thoughts ran through his mind, Bai Zhi busily picked up his things and rushed out the front door.

The Newbie Run had taught him an important principle—there were limits to what a normal human could do, and running away from trouble only increased the chances of encountering a catastrophe in the future. He was on the bottommost rung now, but dithering and dawdling was sure to get him kicked off the ladder.

He was determined to catch up to those OG Players who had enjoyed a three-month head start.

After all, the world was getting more deadly by the day...

*Air-conditioning unit. Air-con in British English.

**A solitaire card game.