At the same time, the red mission text before Zhu Yan’s eyes changed.
This time, however, he did not hear that lively broadcast voice.
“Congratulations to [Hunter] for completing the preliminary mission.”
“Congratulations! You have obtained the special reward [Connector].”
“Unfortunately, the broadcaster has gone off duty. Please read the red text carefully. It will explain the functions and usage of [Connector].”
The red text had the same uncanny quality as the female voice that had broadcast the announcements earlier. Both seemed to know exactly what was going on inside his head.
Zhu Yan silently mocked it in his mind. With one hand in his pocket, he followed the guiding soldier deeper inside while continuing to read.
“[Connector]: A passage linking the real world to [Carnival Paradise]. It is an important gate-control device.”
“It is very small and fragile. However, once it is in place, the public-test dungeon will descend upon human shelters in an unexpected manner.”
Zhu Yan felt something hard and tiny in his pocket. It was shaped like a screw, though its texture was unmistakably plastic.
To his surprise, it kept growing.
Only after it had grown into a disk large enough to fill half his palm did it stop.
“Preliminary Mission 2: Place the [Connector] in the central control room on Level 15 underground in the shelter… or attach it to a router in any place where people gather.”
“Note: The central control room is, of course, the better choice.”
“Once the gate is opened, we will have a way to descend.”
“[Hunter], please place it at least ten days in advance. Establishing the connection is a massive undertaking, and we need sufficient time to prepare.”
The central control room.
That was exactly what the Seer had predicted.
But Zhu Yan did not particularly want to place it in the central control room.
For one thing, operating under the eyes of those players from the [Human Alliance] would be too dangerous. For another, he wanted to use this operation to test the Seer’s abilities.
Just how accurately could the Seer predict his actions?
“What about the other shelters?” Zhu Yan asked silently. “Do I only need to worry about the West Suburb Shelter?”
“Other [Hunters] have been assigned to the other locations,” the red text replied.
“You saw them outside the [Recitation Platform]. There were quite a few of them.”
Oh.
Zhu Yan knew that.
The last time he had gone down there, that “father and son” pair had indeed brought two teams with them.
There had been more than a dozen people in total, if not quite twenty. Considering the number of shelters, that was certainly enough.
“Wait.” Zhu Yan silently added, “Don’t disappear yet.”
The guide led them down a long, gently sloping staircase toward the underground levels.
Yang Zhanbai walked beside Zhu Yan, curiously looking around. Captain Zheng was at the front, while the three [Walking Corpses] brought up the rear.
No one noticed Zhu Zeyu’s expressionless, distracted face.
“The level below this one is the decontamination room,” the guide explained. “You won’t need to take off your clothes once you enter.”
[The Mist] still clung to the glass window on the previous floor, peering inside.
“Are you certain?” Director Jin asked.
The Seer’s face was already drenched in cold sweat.
Her pupils were unfocused, as if she were struggling to visualize something in her mind. After a long while, she shook her head.
“…It seems to have changed. Now it looks like… a large dormitory.”
She was quite accurate.
“A large dormitory?” Jin Rongxu’s voice rose.
“That’s completely different from before. The central control room and a dormitory are two places of entirely different importance.”
The Seer took out a packet of tissues and wiped her face dry.
“Then pay attention to both places,” she said. “A prophetic scene doesn’t appear for no reason.”
“What do you think, Director?”
Director Jin neither agreed nor disagreed.
“Where exactly in the residential area?” he asked.
The Seer fell silent again.
A moment later, she said, “Somewhere with a network connection. Something like a router, though I can’t be certain.”
“I’m sorry, Director. I told you before—his level is higher than my ability level.”
“I’ve already done my best to give you this vague answer.”
In the passageway, Zhu Zeyu walked slowly with his eyes lowered.
The Seer’s answer had been highly uncertain, but the final result was correct.
According to the red text, he really could only tamper with one of those two places. For now, avoiding them was almost impossible.
Routers. That was important information, and it had something in common with the central control room.
The strategic analysis team would certainly figure out that the next dungeon might descend through networks, electrical circuits, or something similar. The [Human Alliance] would then devote considerable effort to keeping all such things under tight watch.
That would not, of course, trouble Zhu Zeyu, who possessed the ability [Invisibility].
But the [Connector] could not become invisible.
The red text had said that it was fragile.
If it were discovered and destroyed, his mission would be for nothing.
Ideally, he would install it at the very last moment before the dungeon descended. But the text had also said that he needed to place it “at least ten days in advance.”
So, was there any way to avoid that problem… or perhaps use this prophecy to his advantage, allowing him to accomplish his objective smoothly?
Zhu Zeyu quietly pondered the matter.
The guide opened a second iron door and motioned for them to enter the mist-filled decontamination room.
A strange, unpleasant odor entered Zhu Zeyu’s nostrils.
The staff inside dragged him beneath a shower nozzle. He felt a current of air rush down onto the top of his head, making him squeeze his eyes shut.
“Stand right there for five minutes!” someone shouted at him.
Zhu Yan did not dare stop thinking.
Suddenly, an idea struck him.
“[Carnival Paradise] gave me the identity of a Boss. I am a [Ghost Story].”
“What is my ability?”
“I know that [Carnival Paradise] has prohibited dungeons from descending.”
“But for the sake of this mission, is there any way for me to simulate a dungeon’s descent once?”
He asked all this silently.
Zhu Yan stared nervously at the red text before him.
The stream of air continued blasting the top of his head, irritating him. Just as the frustration smoldering inside him was about to become unbearable, the red text suddenly flickered.
“We have detected that your Boss ability has not yet been activated. Please wait patiently until the public test begins.”
“However, for the sake of this mission, you may simulate a dungeon’s descent.”
“Please read the detailed instructions carefully.”
The words vanished, quickly replaced by new ones.
“We will grant you authorization.”
“Once authorization is complete, you may create a dungeon space of approximately one hundred square meters. Note: This is the maximum size for a simulated descent.”
One hundred square meters. That would be enough for him to do a great many things.
“A simulated dungeon is not real. You may establish rules for your dungeon, but those rules will not actually take effect.”
So they were fake rules.
As long as he could keep the others from discovering that they were fake, everything would be fine.
“The space of a simulated dungeon can be sealed off. In other words, once a person enters the simulated dungeon, they will be unable to return to the world outside it.”
“However, the simulated dungeon can remain sealed for no more than five hours. Please make good use of this time.”
That was enough, Zhu Yan thought.
He made a second request in his mind.
“Can you give me two fake [Connectors]? Or three… The more, the better.”
“The fake [Connector] should look different from the real one—the greater the difference in appearance, the better.”
ut it can buy an entire year of absolutely perfect training results! Su Yu stared at his empty wallet and decisively opened up various online loan platforms. “Borrow a thousand bucks! Recharge my vitality!” Boom! His vitality broke a hundred points, shattering the limits of the human body! “Borrow ten thousand bucks! Recharge my combat skills!” Boom! A basic punching technique so common it was everywhere instantly maxed out, revealing the ultimate assassination technique of Five Elements Unity—Inner Force! When a rich kid hired assassins for a midnight ambush, aiming to break both of his legs, they instead ran headfirst into a monster—a human-shaped tyrannosaur, brimming with dragon-like vitality. With just two fingers, Su Yu snapped a steel staff reinforced with alloy. Staring at the killer’s stash of stolen cash—a staggering quarter-million dollars—he showed a corporate-sincere smile: “Thanks for the pre-exam gift pack, Mr. Zhao! I’m gonna go re-invest this!” Three days later, at the National Martial Arts College Entrance Exam, while everyone else struggled just to reach the passing line, Su Yu threw a single punch—and more than a thousand vitality points literally detonated the entire arena!
nd fell into a coma while saving his younger sister from an out-of-control car. He became a vegetable. No one knew that his consciousness had crossed into a world of cultivation. Over the course of sixty years, he began as the lowest kind of mine slave, struggling to survive amid mountains of corpses and seas of blood. By sheer chance, he eventually obtained the complete memories of a fallen Immortal King. Alchemy, medicine, formations, feng shui, physiognomy, artifact forging… Every great inheritance of the cultivation world was now his. But when he opened his eyes again, he discovered that ten full years had passed in the modern world. To pay for his treatment, his father had sold the family’s shop and house, leaving himself covered in lasting injuries and illness. His mother had cared for him day and night, and more than half of her hair had already turned white. His younger sister, who had been only fifteen back then, was now twenty-five. To help repay the family’s debts, she had been forced to lower her head and put on a smiling face in places of glittering lights and endless revelry. Only then did Chen Xuan understand that what he had lost was not merely ten years. He had lost the life his entire family was meant to have. The good news was that he had brought back the memories of an Immortal King’s entire lifetime. The bad news was that his soul had returned alone—his cultivation had not come with him. Spiritual energy was scarce, resources were depleted, and the modern world still had firearms, surveillance, capital, and laws. If he wanted to protect his family, break free from everyone’s control, and become truly invincible beneath the heavens, he would have to start all over again.
end. Thus one must continue to cultivate, and become a saint or great emperor, in order to prolong one's life. Chen Xia, however, completely reversed this. Since his transmigration, he has gained immortality, and also a system that awards him with attribute points for every year he lives. Thus between the myriad worlds, the legend of an unparalleled senior appeared. "A gentleman takes revenge; it is never too late even after ten thousand years." "When you were at your peak I yielded, now in your old age I shall trample on you." - Chen Xia
s the Eldest Princess, renowned for her cold and aloof detachment, became the most docile of lambs, obeying his every command without question. But when the final move was played on the chessboard, as Gu Chenghan seized everything and ascended on the verge of apotheosis, that very Princess suddenly embraced him from behind, her tone carrying a dependence never heard before: "Wait... you haven't yet... commanded me to love you forever." Gu Chenghan froze abruptly. She... hadn't been hypnotized?! ... [The Eldest Princess's Diary] [When my soul was extracted, becoming the sole spectator outside my own shell] [At first, there was overwhelming fury, until I saw] [How he used my sword to effortlessly shatter my inescapable doom] [How he wielded my authority to eradicate fatal conspiracies I had never even detected] [Like a deity, he rescued me from the deep mire I was trapped in] [If not for those annoying vixens, he and I would be a match made in heaven] [I think I am ill, gravely ill] [My deity should belong to me alone] ... "Hypnosis? Oh, it succeeded, my dear Master." "Only this time, it's my turn to hypnotize you."
