A Notice

Zhu Yan read two pages; out of ten posts, eight were confused inquiries.

He thought for a moment, then finally flipped back and found the post titled Attention Newcomers.

After staring at the cover for three seconds, Zhu Yan successfully entered the post and saw the full version.

"I am a player, and I have already survived two rounds of instances."

"What I want to say is that none of this is an illusion. Do not doubt what you are seeing."

"There are no hallucinogens on the badges and cards, and you do not have food poisoning."

Zhu Yan examined this article quite seriously.

"I know a small number of people will feel like they've been brainwashed, or experience dizziness."

"After the game begins, do not panic."

"Make good use of your abilities!"

"And whatever you do, do not call the police, do not go to a psychiatric hospital, and do not mention anything you've experienced to anyone around you."

"Do not expose your identity, and especially do not expose your abilities!"

"Speaking from experience, this is all I can do to help you!"

The post was made five days ago.

Zhu Yan's feelings were complicated. For a moment, an immense sense of absurdity made him want to laugh.

The post was right. Any normal person faced with these voices and images would probably think they were experiencing visual and auditory hallucinations.

He scrolled down to the comments and noticed that many profile pictures in the comment section had already gone dark.

"I found the envelope at the internet cafe outside my neighborhood. I have an addiction and my worthless life won't last long anyway, so I chose to become a player. I'm leaving my address and name. I'm all alone, so tomorrow please remember to call the police to collect my body."

The comment was posted two days ago. The profile picture was dark, and the nickname read User Deactivated.

Zhu Yan took a look. There really was a name and a specific address down to the house number, located in a neighborhood he had never heard of.

He opened his phone's map app to search, and to his surprise, the neighborhood actually existed.

The location photos showed that the neighborhood was situated in the relatively dilapidated old city center. Outside the neighborhood gates, there was a rundown little internet cafe.

Zhu Yan fell silent.

Something that could be verified in reality could not be called a hallucination.

"I found my card on my sister's desk. My sister died suddenly a few days ago. I couldn't pass the novice instance; these are my last ten minutes. Good luck, strangers!"

The post's comment section was fairly lively. Aside from those two, seven or eight others shared how they had found their envelopes.

Some found it in the pockets of newly bought clothes, some found it in gifts they received, and someone's envelope was tucked among banknotes withdrawn from the bank.

It was a wide variety, each more outrageous than the last.

"The original poster is right, don't call the police. Our area seems to be a disaster zone. My neighbor called the police, and the officers confiscated his card and badge. Calling the police won't affect the novice mission; it will only cause all your privacy to be leaked."

"I paid to ask around, and the police found no clues related to the Sluggard Craft Store. This store doesn't exist in reality."

Sluggard Craft Store, it couldn't be found?

Zhu Yan glanced over and noticed that this poster's account was also deactivated.

Zhu Yan scrolled a bit more, and after realizing there were no helpful suggestions for the novice instance here, he exited the post.

At this point, he no longer believed that believing or not believing could change anything.

Assuming everything was truly a hallucination, then his choice to become a player wouldn't have any impact anyway; his final destination would be a psychiatric hospital regardless.

But if everything was real, wouldn't choosing to become a player earlier mean he could merge with and familiarize himself with his abilities sooner, thereby gaining more of an advantage in the novice instance?

After all, judging by the proportion of dark profile pictures and User Deactivated tags in the forum, the survival rate of the novice instance was only about forty percent.

...Even lower than the 50% diversion rate of the high school entrance exam in certain provinces.

Zhu Yan continued to browse and read.

He popped in and out of various posts and found a comment that could verify his guess.

"I advise everyone to choose to become a player in advance, so you can merge your abilities earlier."

"Don't underestimate this. Your everyday talents are not your abilities; using an ability feels completely different."

Zhu Yan softly inhaled a breath of air.

He slowly calmed down, took the badge out of his pocket, and, following the instructions, carefully pressed his left index finger against it.

One.

Two.

Three...

The bedroom door was pounded on loudly. Zhu Yan turned his head as his aunt's voice came from outside.

"The meat and vegetables I ordered have arrived!" she yelled. "Hurry downstairs and fetch them."

"Coming," Zhu Yan replied.

A rich, warm sensation seeped into his palm. He looked back and found that the badge had melted in his hand like chocolate.

The golden liquid gradually seeped into his skin. The heat traveled along his blood vessels, flowing past the soles of his feet and rising to the space between his eyebrows.

"You have chosen to become a player," that pleasant female voice announced. "Once the badge has fully merged, please place the ability card in your palm."

Zhu Yan maintained his palm-up posture and cautiously stood up.

He quickly absorbed all the golden liquid. The bird that had originally been suspended in the liquid turned into a small black tattoo, embedded right in the center of his palm.

Zhu Yan rubbed it a couple of times; the color didn't fade, as if it had grown naturally from his skin.

The door handle rattled a few times. His aunt failed to open the door, and her voice carried anger.

"Zhu Yan! Are you deaf?!"

Zhu Yan reached his left hand into his pocket and grasped his ability card, ensuring the card was pressed tightly against his palm.

He opened the door, gave his aunt an apologetic look, and hurried out.

"I'll go right away. I'm sorry..."

He felt the originally stiff card soften in his hand, like thick glutinous rice paper.

"Why haven't you packed your things yet?!"

The moment he opened the door, his aunt completely erupted.

"Get out! Get out! When you come back with the stuff, kneel down. You're not allowed to eat dinner without my permission!!"

Over the years, Zhu Yan had long since learned to ignore his aunt's sudden outbursts of anger.

The ability card melted faster than he had imagined. Zhu Yan was halfway downstairs when he saw floating subtitles appear before his eyes.

"Ability merging complete."

"[Roleplay] Lv.3: You can imitate the behavior of thriller creatures of level 3 and below, making them believe you are one of their own. This portion has no time limit."

"You can slightly alter your aura to deceive players of level 3 and below, making them believe you are someone else or a thriller creature. This portion has no time limit."

Wow, how thrilling.

"In every instance, you can hide your player tattoo for 1 hour."

I can play both sides? This ability looks incredibly useful!

If nothing else, pretending to be an accomplice in front of thriller creatures at a critical moment can genuinely save a life.

Zhu Yan got a little excited, but he quickly suppressed that excitement.

No. I can't let my guard down yet—

After all, the survival rate of the novice instance is only forty percent, or even less.

"Player: Zhu Yan (Nickname can be modified after clearing the novice instance)"

"Player Level: Lv.0"

A level 0 player with a level 3 ability?

Meaning, he could deceive thriller creatures three levels above him!

What an extraordinary talent!

In just a few steps, Zhu Yan had arrived at his destination.

He lifted the plastic curtain of the delivery station and took a bag of groceries from the self-pickup shelf.

The bag was not tied tightly, leaving a small opening.

Zhu Yan saw it—

A small black envelope was lying inside, and the golden pattern on the envelope was exactly the same as the one Zhu Yan had received!

Is this... Aunt's?

Did Aunt also have that weird dream?

Zhu Yan's heartbeat accelerated again.

He looked around. After confirming that there was no one in sight, he quickly opened the bag, took out the card from the envelope, and started reading.

"Your ability is Complain."

"You are an older mother solely devoted to scheming for your overgrown man-child of a son, a bitter woman full of resentment."

"You frequently insult and complain about others. This is proof of your miserable life, as well as your means of making others as miserable as you are."

Zhu Yan knew that with a crisis approaching, he shouldn't be laughing out loud with joy.

But this was such a fantastic roast!

"Current ability level: Lv.2. (Because your eloquence is truly the biggest joke in the world)"

Zhu Yan laughed even more openly.

He was just about to take out the game badge for a look when he heard the female system voice again.

"Attention player, your novice dungeon, Who is the Crown Prince, is expected to open in 2 hours."

"Horror creature level: Lv.2 Ordinary Doppelganger."

"Dungeon quest: Survive for 2 hours."

"Dungeon location: Room 601, Building 3, Anyuan Village Community, Bailu City."

Zhu Yan still had a lingering smile on his face, but his mind was racing.

The dungeon location happened to be his aunt's house, and his aunt had also received a badge and an ability card.

Judging from the estimated start time, he and his aunt should be in the same dungeon.

The dungeon name, Who is the Crown Prince, seemed to be a brilliant satire of his aunt's family situation.

Doppelganger...

Zhu Yan's heart sank slightly, yet at the same time, he actually felt a sense of thrill.

This feeling was quite subtle.

Two hours later would be around 6 o'clock, which was exactly the time his uncle and younger cousin had promised to be home.

If everything was true.

Then, who had the doppelganger replaced?