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 seed to have made it to the door and were threatening to rush into the house at any mont...
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 sward, 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 co 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 apartnt 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 chid daily with the amber alerts that the governnt issued about the heat.
In fact, the temperature was not only high, but seed 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 ho to his sauna of an apartnt, 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 co 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, ti 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 ho 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 tis ahead, it could an the difference between life and death.
The problem was that experience was hard to co by, and of the four thods 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 sowhat unlikely.
Not to ntion the unpredictability of their power levels. If he were so unlucky as to co 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 welco change from its several days of inactivity. A transparent screen materialized before him.
[ New Ga Available! All Players are Invited to Take the Challenge ]
Below the simple ssage was a map of the town with a flashing red light on it, encircled by a dotted line.
A new "Ga", huh?
Bai Zhi quirked an eyebrow and got up.
"Gas", another one of the strange phenona in this world, were pocket dinsions that could manifest an amalgamation of several different gas, and were usually less dangerous than encountering a supernatural entity. Players who successfully cleared a Ga would receive the appropriate rewards, while those who failed to do so would receive a penalty.
The reward for clearing Gas could vary from tools and equipnt generated within the ga to special items like potions.
Similarly, failing a Ga could incur a range of penalties. Players could lose Coins, have their equipnt 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 beco an NPC.
Bai Zhi was not the only one to receive this notification. Each ti a new Ga 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 Ga was too great to pass up, so without fail, as soon as a new Ga appeared, Players were sure to flock to it in droves.
After a mont's thought, Bai Zhi reached out a finger and tapped on the flashing red dot. Imdiately, a countdown tir popped up next to it.
[ 2 : 59 : 37 ]
[ 2 : 59 : 36 ]
[ 2 : 59 : 35 ]
The Ga 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 twenty minutes to get there...
Gah, I don't even know what ga 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 ga.
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