The Abyssal Garden: No Room for the Idle Chapter 2 2: Abyssal Paradise, Activate!

Su Qi returned ho and cooked a bowl of noodles.

He didn't like soup noodles; the essence of noodles lay in dry mixing, where each strand could be fully coated in savory at sauce, blending into the rich flavor.

He brought it to his computer screen.

He began browsing the official forum of "Abyssal Paradise."

It had to be said, the ga was incredibly popular—though not yet in open beta, the number of followers had already exceeded three million.

So complained about Magic Cube Company on the forum, saying it was heartless to sell the ga cabin and ga as a bundle, and furthermore, the cabin could only play "Abyssal Paradise," which was quite expensive compared to others.

But defenders quickly erged.

"How is it expensive? Stop talking nonsense, sotis you should look for the reasons within yourself."

"Love it or leave it. Those who don't play Abyss are dood to a failed life."

"People are acting like filial sons before the ga's even released." Su Qi skipped over those pointless, jumbled, and crazed ssages.

He read so valuable content, summarized as follows.

"Abyssal Paradise" had a six-month confidential test phase with data deletion. Many of the testers posted on the forum, seemingly forming factions to attract naive new players.

Additionally.

The ga's structure was extrely large. According to Magic Cube Company insiders, the ga boasted an unlimited number of instance worlds for players to explore, offering infinite possibilities. Also, the cheats that other gas detested would never appear in "Abyssal Paradise."

"Is that so, zero cheats? It seems I must play then, as I hate cheaters the most."

-----------------

On the morning of the open beta.

Su Qi got up early for a run, had a bath and breakfast.

Then he lay down in the ga cabin, refreshed and ready to enter the ga.

He tapped the narrow walls of the cabin and watched the automatic door close. "The designer of this ga cabin must've worked in funerals before; this feels no different from lying in a coffin at Ghost House."

[Neural connection in progress]

[Connection successful]

[Welco, player number 985211, for using our company's product]

[Please be aware, during gaplay, you may experience nausea, dizziness, or other discomfort, as well as potential negative emotional effects. Players are expected to bear the consequences. If any discomfort arises, please cease gaplay imdiately and seek dical help promptly]

[Have a pleasant ga]

After a brief mont of distraction.

Su Qi found himself in a dark room, where beyond the system's faint glowing ssages there was nothing but deep darkness.

Weird and mixed noises ca from outside the room—monsters howling, ghostly laughter.

Listening to the bizarre sounds continuously erging from outside, he mused, "Personal login space made like this, is it to make players feel imrsed, or just to create a scary atmosphere?"

Ordinary people might indeed panic, staying motionless in the well-lit area.

But Su Qi was already making his way through the darkness, trying to open the door to find out what lay beyond. The door handle, however, would not turn.

Instead, a ssage popped up in front of him.

[This area is not yet available]

He could only knock on the door, "Enough with the effects, it's too loud."

It was unclear whether the ga had heard Su Qi's words, or if it was just the ga's design,

but the noises outside the room quickly faded away.

[Please enter your in-ga userna now]

Su Qi hadn't considered using his real na; after a mont of thought, he made up his mind.

[Is the userna confird as: Su Buxian?]

[Confirmation successful]

[Player Su Buxian, do you wish to imdiately enter the single-player instance? Upon entering the instance, character panel will be unlocked]

"Yes."

The next mont.

The system's light vanished, and the room fell into complete darkness.

A faint sobbing sound rose from the darkness.

It seed far away, yet suddenly it was close to his ear, a hoarse voice as if from a scorched throat:

"Welco, to the Abyss."

.....

After a brief wait, the darkness receded like a tide.

Su Qi, with a dark expression, touched his ear, "If you're going to scare soone, why get so close? And why do I feel like I've been licked?"

He looked up.

The original login space had transford into a wooden cabin.

The cabin was dim, with rays of sunset seeping through the gaps of the ill-fitted wooden door, casting light upon the sowhat dirty floor.

Dirty and ssy?

Su Qi looked down at his feet, noticing what appeared to be dried liquid on the floor, flies buzzing chaotically inside the room, and his nose quickly caught a whiff of an indescribable odor.

Before he could get a clear view of the cabin's interior,

His vision blurred suddenly, as the ga's introductory CG screen began to slowly erge, and a detached voice sounded in his ear.

"You had a flat tire and were stranded on the desolate roadside, and, with no other options, you accepted an invitation from a passing local to stay at their ho."

"Their ho is in a secluded small town nearby. The town doesn't have many residents, but each one you et is overly enthusiastic. You decide to stay the night and deal with your car the next day."

"Only — the vague traces you've incidentally discovered make you uneasy."

The CG showed the scenes he had passed on the way — thorny shrubs, a church used for prayers, and enthusiastic smiles on everyone's faces.

The next mont, the mission prompt appeared.

"Mission: Escape the town or survive for three hours."

As the images slowly faded, Su Qi finally had a mont to survey the cabin with his gaze.

Apart from a bed, there wasn't much inside the cabin.

It seed to be temporary lodging arranged for visitors, but obviously... he wasn't the only outsider who had co here.

Su Qi touched the dried liquid on the ground and brought it to his nose to sniff.

"The sll of disinfectant, but there's more…"

There was also a faint stench that even disinfectant couldn't mask. Although he looked around the cabin, he didn't see anything.

Suddenly, Su Qi's gaze froze.

A small question mark was quietly sitting in a corner by the bedside.

"Looks like you can see them in this ga, too."

After approaching, he saw the ssage.

"This plank is loose."

Su Qi pried the plank open, his eyebrows arching at the spine-chilling sight.

Beneath was a hollow space filled with skeletons, a few bodies that hadn't fully decomposed, their flesh hanging more densely than the pork ribs sold at the butcher's by the entrance of his residential complex.

He pinched his nose, almost knocked over by the stench as he opened it.

"So, it ans all the outsiders who were invited here were killed."

Su Qi, with sharp eyes, spotted a plastic bag in the chest cavity of one of the corpses and reached out to pull it out.

The bag was covered in blood.

Upon opening it, he found a small voice recorder and an ID badge inside.

"It seems this was a journalist, who also stumbled into this place."

Su Qi skipped the previous voice entries and went straight to the last day.

A man's voice soon ca from the voice recorder.

"6:26 PM, my luck couldn't be worse, my car broke down, and reluctantly I had to seek shelter in this remote little town. But the townspeople are very hospitable, even bringing dinner, which was delicious."

"7:00 PM, just as I was about to leave the house, the enthusiastic neighboring maid, Mary… it seed like she was waiting for , voluntarily showed around, and I noticed that even though the town has less than fifty residents, there's a church with decorative patterns that felt strangely familiar, but I couldn't place them."

"7:40 PM, as the sun has set, it seems everyone in the town goes to the church for prayers at this ti. Although it's a bit odd, it is their custom."

"7:47 PM, I can no longer stand the sll of dead mice in the cabin. Can't they detect it? I wanted to ntion it, but seeing their warm hospitality, I couldn't bring myself to complain... I'll clean it up myself."

The voice did not hang up; it was apparent he had found the source of the stench and was creaking the floorboards.

Su Qi knew what would happen next.

After opening it.

"Snap!"

The recorder had a clear sound of being dropped, followed by his panicked, trembling voice: "God, what the hell is this... this damn thing?"

The voice cut off there.

Clearly, he had discovered the skeleton storage below.

Su Qi shifted his gaze to the last voice recording, dated 8:00 PM.

The voice recorder emitted a shaky voice, clearly discernible despair and fear throughout, a stark contrast to the beginning.

"Why... why are there so many bodies here? Could it be... I rember now, the patterns! Damn it! Everyone here is a wicked believer, and each outsider is sacrificed to the Demon."

The man tried to flee, footsteps frantic, but they suddenly halted, as if he saw sothing terrifying outside the window.

"They... they have finished their prayers and are all standing outside the cabin with torches."

His voice grew quieter, a feeble and trembling sound of ultimate despair.

"I'm already... trapped."

"Crack!"

The sound of the cabin door being opened ca from the recorder.

At the sa ti,

Su Qi heard the sa sound from the door behind him.

"Click."