Su Ming’an didn’t look back, directly locating the spatial vibration behind him.
The air seed to be stirred by a giant hand in an instant, and as he swiftly turned around with annihilation in his grip, he saw a patch of pitch-black condensation in the air.
It was an indistinct black object, like dark algae, still emitting twisted black lines around while being controlled. When Su Ming’an reached out again and infused five hundred mana points into the spatial vibration, the patch of blackness burst like a balloon and disappeared.
[You have killed ???, Exp 500]
[You have obtained Clue II: Night Walkers in the Dark]
[Clue II: Night Walkers in the Dark: Twisted, eerie unidentified black entities. They seem highly aggressive and do not voluntarily enter soone’s room at night—unless they hear the noise you’ve made.]
...
[You’ve been exposed to the contamination from the darkness, and your Sanity Value has beco slightly unstable.]
...
In the upper-left corner of his field of view, the orange bar that had dropped to 70 began to fluctuate slightly, rising and falling, indecisively.
Su Ming’an felt his vision had dimd slightly as if so of the saturation had been drained away, and the dark corners around him were expanding.
He ignored this Sanity Value and instead looked at the clue prompt.
At least he knew that it was night-ti now.
One o’clock in the morning.
And these monsters that had broken in...
He looked at the door that had been pushed open, the outside was pitch-dark.
It wasn’t the kind of darkness where you can’t see things clearly, but a pure black, as if there was nothing outside, stepping out would trigger a death judgnt, as if a piece had been erased by soone.
And as he watched that area, it seed that silent black tendrils crept in along the edge of the door, but they stopped at the doorfra and did not enter, as if they were being blocked from outside.
[Don’t let them hear you.]
He moved slightly, and the floor beneath his feet made a grating "squeak."
The sound traveled very far.
He seed to understand what had drawn these things here.
If he wasn’t mistaken, this place should be a temporary safe starting area ant to give players a buffer. But once the players get out of bed and step on the floor, making a noise, they would attract those oddly shaped things and the official instance would begin.
If he had thought a little more when he saw the bloodstains on his thigh, avoided touching the ground, or had a skill akin to levitation that made no sound, no monster would have been attracted.
...But it didn’t really matter.
The attracted monsters had a combat power ranging from 200 to 400, his 500 mana points dealt damage that was off the charts, killing the opponent with ease.
If it were a newbie player just entering the instance, this one mistake could have been fatal. But for him, so things no longer required such carefulness; he could bulldoze through with high combat power.
He was currently the player with the highest combat power; if even he fell to the small monsters at the very beginning of the instance, then the difficulty was excessively high.
With this thought, he opened the combat power rankings.
He had been on vacation before and hadn’t checked, but now he had ti to see the changes in the leaderboard.
The azure system interface unfolded before his eyes, and he glanced at it, noticing several unfamiliar nas.
[World Rankings (Comprehensive Evaluation)]
1. Su Ming’an (Combat Power: 1700) (Number One Player) (Perfect Pass*4) / Occupation: White Auditor
2. Noel Agnini (Combat Power: 1350) (Perfect Pass*3) / Occupation: Puppet Master
3. Edward (Combat Power: 1550) (Perfect Pass*4) / Occupation: Ti Stopper
4. Atlanda (Combat Power: 1450) (Perfect Pass*2) / Occupation: Prophet
5. Mizushima Kawa Sora (Combat Power: 1200) (Perfect Pass*4) / Occupation: Illusionism
6. Aiden (Combat Power: 1150) (Perfect Pass*3) / Occupation: High Rank Dark Priest
7. Alger (Combat Power: 1050) (Perfect Pass*2) / Occupation: Crazy Sword
8. Lv Shu (Combat Power: 1100) (Perfect Pass*1) / Occupation: Beast Tar
9. Bei Wang (Combat Power: 1000) (Perfect Pass*4) / Occupation: Frost Mage
10. Lin Jiang (Combat Power: 1100) (Perfect Pass*2) / Occupation: Doll Master
...
The top three remained unchanged, and Edward’s Combat Power had also risen quickly. However, following him closely was an Atlanda whom he had never seen before.
And this ninth-ranked Bei Wang was also an unfamiliar figure. Su Ming’an had previously glanced over the top hundred players of the world and had not seen this Bei Wang.
This turned out to be a player who had achieved a perfect pass on every level, yet fell outside the top hundred. Moreover, his Combat Power wasn’t particularly high, which seed strange—could it be that he specialized in using his Intelligence to complete the gas, and was particularly poor at combat?
Ming’an wondered what this person had gone through.
anwhile, Lv Shu had dropped directly to eighth place... It was probably because he had seriously slacked off in the Fifth World, staying aloof from the main activities, hence he didn’t receive any favorable evaluations.
He closed the ranking interface.
His gaze would never be confined to this minor leaderboard; he needed to pay attention to things beyond humanity.
He had already reached the highest position internally, so he needed to find chanisms more important than these.
His gaze settled briefly on the darkness outside the door, before he stepped forward.
As he passed by the door, he saw a notice stuck on the outside of it.
[Attention all students.]
[From 11 PM to 6 AM is considered night ti, and going outside is strictly prohibited.]
[At 6 AM, please gather on ti and comnce a new day of learning.]
[Please maintain a healthy routine and reduce staying up late.]
[Failure to adhere to these living habits and engaging in night-ti activities will result in punishnt.]
...
[Clue Three Obtained: Living Habits]
[(Living Habits): Get sufficient sleep and do not stay up late. Going to bed on ti is good for physical and ntal health, and excessive late nights can lead to sudden death.]
...
The reminder was written explicitly on the door.
Logically, as long as players had a bit of sense, with the double warning from both the black-hole-like outside world and the posted notices, they wouldn’t go out at this ti.
Su Ming’an touched the notice, ensuring there was nothing hidden beneath, then lifted his gaze and took a step out.
The floorboards creaked loudly, especially prominent in the near silence of the dark.
He stepped from the light into the darkness, and saw his vision gradually returning at the center.
Outside was a long corridor.
Not a single light was to be found; he stood at the edge of brightness, staring down the endlessly dark corridor.
He walked into it.
Suddenly, the light behind him was being squeezed away little by little, the shadow under his feet shrinking until it vanished. He didn’t look back, continuing towards the end of the corridor without stopping, allowing the door to close on its own behind him.
"Bang—!"
With a thunderous noise, the wooden door that closed quietly when opened now emitted a thunderous rumbling upon closing. Su Ming’an felt as if sothing in the darkness around him was watching him; he blinked, and at the edge of his vision, darkened by the angle, sothing seed to be moving.
"Swish, swish..."
He heard a fine rustling sound, like the gradual fall of wall plaster or as if sothing extrely light was stepping rapidly closer.
He didn’t entertain the idea of staying in the safe room and sending his clone out to explore.
A dead clone would cost five Occupation Points to repair. Rather than wasting five Occupation Points, it was better to explore himself. His own life was almost cost-free; if he died, it would just an starting over.
Five Occupation Points were obviously more precious than his own life.
He moved quickly, following the corridor forward.
The squeaking noise underfoot grew more and more grating, as if he were stepping on soone with each stride. Since he couldn’t see, his hand slid along the wall to his left, touching the dusty surface and one wooden door after another.
Behind those wooden doors were likely other Players, their rooms probably not much different from his, all along this sa corridor. However, unlike him, the other Players might not have chosen to take action yet, therefore all the doors remained closed.
Nobody dared make a sound.
...Let alone push the door open and go out directly like he did.
As Players gradually beca familiar with the instance’s nature, they understood that acting recklessly despite warnings was bound to bring nothing but trouble upon themselves.
But Su Ming’an did just that.
Because he had room for error.
He pressed against the wall and moved swiftly, his eyes seeing nothing ahead.
It was like walking with eyes closed on a nightti street, completely unaware of what lay ahead, whether there might be a car, a crossroad, or suddenly a lawn or a ditch... He just blindly moved forward, with only one hand feeling the wall.
The viewers of the live feed were completely dumbfounded by this sight:
"A true warrior..."
"Ca here from other big-shot strears, and really, not a single one of them dared to do this..."
"Is he actually probing with his real body? Not sending a Clone? He’s truly reckless."
"The Number One Player is too bold, he should be a little more cautious, in case he dies here..."
"That would be interesting, the human salvation eting would have been in vain, the second-generation Iris."
"Could it be that he’s grasped so clue? Like knowing it’s safe to do this? This is too terrifying, I’m scared even watching through the screen, seeing nothing..."
"I get scared of such scenes in horror gas, let alone in a reality where you could die at any mont..."
...
He walked across the creaking floorboards and suddenly heard a faint noise.
With his high ntality Points, he quickly pinpointed its location. Without caring what was coming, he reached out, infused 400 Mana Points, and flung Spatial Vibration directly in that direction.
"Boom—" The wave surged.
"[You have killed Student No. 23, Exp 800]"
...Student No. 23?
Su Ming’an moved towards that direction, his foot touching sothing heavy. He crouched down, reached out, and touched a person’s body.
Since the fabric felt the sa as the one he was wearing, this person seed like a Player in the sa predicant as him.
But according to the system prompt, this was an NPC.
"[You have obtained Prop No. 23·Worn Toy Bear.]"
He suddenly touched sothing soft, and as the system prompt sounded, a transparent, unlit panel appeared before his eyes:
"[My daughter has a cold, it’s really worrying. Taking care of a child alone is not easy.]"
"[My daughter is leaving, they say she can co back for the holidays, I wish the days of waiting would go by faster.]"
"[My heart feels empty without my daughter.]"
"[Counting the days, my daughter is almost back, I need to prepare to buy groceries, I rember she loves sweet and sour ribs...]"
"[Oh right, and the toy bear she’s been longing for, I saw one for sale at the street corner, should I give her a surprise...]"
...
"[Prop can be placed into the temporary Props slot.]"
Su Ming’an dragged the toy bear into his props bar, then stood up.
Along the way, he also noticed so protrusions on the path, which were cabinets. There were actually a few cabinets placed in the corridor, empty, for purposes unknown.
He continued along the original path and suddenly felt his vision slightly brighten.
...It wasn’t that sothing had happened, but there seed to be a light source in the distance.
It flickered unsteadily below, like a distant candle, which might go out at any mont.
The light source was below.
Looking down, Su Ming’an discovered that there seed to be stairs; the corridor was not a single passage but also had other paths to traverse, including going up or down floors.
When he noticed the light, he also felt that the light was becoming brighter...
No, that’s not right.
It wasn’t becoming brighter.
The light was getting closer to him.
He stood still and swiftly set down an eye.
The eye rotated in place and then quickly beca invisible.
This was the Surveillance Eye with the Prophetic Gemstone attached, which could assist with his future actions. The mont the eye was set, a blood-red marker popped up instantly, extrely red and bright, pointing straight down toward the direction of the light source as if shot out in madness.
In the guidance of the Surveillance Eye, red signifies danger, while green signifies safety and opportunity.
The brighter the color, the more serious the degree.
And at this mont, the nearly burning red was telling him—the area below was extrely dangerous, especially that bit of light.
The crisis was gauged against his own strength; if even his current strength asured it as an extre threat...
He looked down.
The thing holding the light, extrely dangerous, was steadily approaching, as if homing in on his direction.
As he stepped back and his footsteps made a grating "squeak," the light before his eyes suddenly expanded, as though a fla had burst into growth.
—The other side was closing in rapidly!
It had found him.
Su Ming’an hesitated for a mont, then turned around imdiately.
Because, at the sa ti, a fresh green color also lit up on the Surveillance Eye, firmly pointing in another direction.
That was the path to life, or a chance.
He quickly ran in the direction pointed to by the green arrow and saw a cabinet at the edge of the corridor.
...A cabinet?
In many horror ga chanics, cabinets represent a safe place, where one can hide without being discovered, unless entering in front of a ghost. Once the ghost leaves, the player can exit from the cabinet and continue exploring.
Perhaps it was the sa here. The cabinet represented an absolute safe point.
No wonder... a few seemingly out-of-place empty cabinets appeared on the deserted corridor.
Su Ming’an suddenly felt a sense of déjà vu, as if he was playing a horror ga.
He quickly approached, pulled open the cabinet door, and was about to hide inside—
As he stepped forward, he felt his foot land on sothing soft, rather than the hard bottom of the cabinet.
"Fuck."
He heard soone curse in Chinese.
There was soone inside.
...What, did one have to queue up to hide in cabinets on a late night?
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