BOSS Skills

Zhu Yan was woken promptly by his phone alarm.

As usual, he had slept like a log, without even a single dream.

“…I was almost convinced you’d died in bed.”

Just as he was feeling refreshed, Zhu Yan heard Yang Zhanbai grumbling from the lower bunk.

“Not quite,” Zhu Yan replied out of habit.

His hand rose to his neck. The 【Savings Silver Ring】 he had prepared the day before hung there on a metal chain.

Weapons, daily necessities, food, and tools—including the remote-purchase slip from Feining—had all been stuffed inside in one go.

Other than lacking a vehicle, and the fact that his bed and bed curtains had to remain in this shelter, he had nearly everything he needed.

The Tuxedo Cat poked its head out of the blankets, and Zhu Yan promptly grabbed it by the ear.

“Transform,” Zhu Yan whispered to the Tuxedo Cat as he began changing clothes at top speed. “Today might not be peaceful.”

By the time he had put on his light jacket and climbed out of bed, the Tuxedo Cat had transformed into damp, watery 【Mist】 and slipped inside his collar.

Before long, Zhu Yan was leading three 【Walking Corpses】, Yang Zhanbai, and Guan En toward the assembly point, breakfast in hand.

“Six o’clock.”

Yang Zhanbai glanced down at the time and popped a vitamin D tablet into his mouth.

“That’s awfully early. How do those kids even manage to get up?”

They had already squeezed into the elevator descending to the lower levels.

Zhu Yan swallowed an egg rather hastily and heard Captain Zheng explaining beside him.

“Today is important. They have to get up, whether they want to or not. Once you see the children’s lesson materials, you’ll understand why.”

Zhu Yan’s ears perked up.

“What’s wrong with the lesson materials?” he asked without thinking.

“There’s nothing wrong with them.” Captain Zheng gave him a baffled look. “It’s just an English class, though I don’t think the topic was chosen very well. Of course, with a public lesson like this, there must be strategic considerations and broader implications on the authorities’ part.”

The elevator doors opened.

To Zhu Yan’s surprise, the floor was already filled with 【Human Alliance】 players standing at the ready, along with soldiers carrying live firearms. They had arrived relatively late.

Captain Zheng led them through the underground school, library, and hospital, winding through a maze of lofty corridors and imposing staircases before finally stopping in front of a redwood double door.

“Captain Jin is attending today,” he said. “When the time comes, just follow Deputy Captain Guan and take up positions near Director Jin and Captain Jin.”

The wooden doors slowly swung open.

Inside was a beautiful, spacious auditorium with two levels. Zhu Yan estimated that it could accommodate around a thousand people.

Projection equipment and more than twenty desks and chairs had already been arranged on the stage.

The children seemed to have arrived as well. The characteristic chattering of young children came from backstage.

But the backstage area was hidden behind heavy curtains and lacked the bright lighting of the stage.

At first glance, it looked pitch-black.

Zhu Yan’s heart gave a sudden, ominous thump.

Guan En began explaining a few basic points about their duties, but Zhu Yan listened distractedly, his gaze drifting toward the two large electronic screens facing the audience.

“…The central control room is another key area. Although the crisis has been confirmed resolved, the central control room is an important hub responsible for starting and stopping equipment and centralized monitoring. You must…”

The title of the slideshow on the screens read: “Our Home.”

Its background featured an illustration of a smiling woman. Her eyes had been drawn as half-moons, and her teeth were white and perfectly even. She looked rather stiff.

The woman stood in front of a large gate—a gate Zhu Yan recognized. It was none other than the main entrance to the Western Suburb Shelter.

“…If an accident occurs, we will need to… Of course, the probability is extremely low…”

Following the others, Zhu Yan proceeded to his assigned post.

As he passed a row of seats, the corner of his eye caught a flash of scarlet on the floor.

It was a small envelope he recognized, only its color had changed.

Zhu Yan immediately thought of the red words from the previous day.

Could this be his BOSS ability card?

Under the cover of the three 【Walking Corpses】, Zhu Yan quickly bent down and picked up the envelope.

He found an opportunity to slip out, claiming that he needed to use the restroom. Once inside a stall, he tore open the envelope.

There was indeed a rigid card inside.

“BOSS Name: 【Weird Tale】

BOSS Ability: 【Rules Compendium】 Lv.?”

Seeing the question mark in place of the level, Zhu Yan sensed that something was amiss.

He hurriedly lowered his gaze to read the ability description.

“Dear Mr. 【Weird Tale】, we know that you have the most tricks up your sleeve.”

“Therefore, based on your performance in the virtual instance, we have activated this powerful support-type ability for you.”

“Why should colleagues make things difficult for one another? Why should one BOSS sabotage another BOSS?”

What?

Zhu Yan stared at the final line for several seconds, and his ominous premonition deepened.

Given his… virtues, it was true that he would probably use every underhanded trick at his disposal to sabotage his fellow horror-creature colleagues.

But so what?

Hadn’t 【Carnival Paradise】 reminded him yesterday that 【Carnival Paradise】 accepted the law of the jungle?

“…Put a 【Weird Tale】 under pressure?”

Zhu Yan muttered to himself as he continued reading.

“Dear Mr. 【Weird Tale】, we hope that you will make unity and cooperation your highest principles, and take assisting 【Carnival Paradise】’s expansion as your primary objective.”

“Ability Description: This ability’s level changes flexibly and remains equal to the level of the highest-level horror creature or BOSS in the instance you are currently in.”

Oh?

Then it worked in much the same way as his 【Invisibility】 ability.

Very powerful.

Zhu Yan had a vague feeling that there might be something he could do with this.

“You may use this ability to add one rule to the instance you are currently in.”

“After use, the rule will be automatically entered into the 【Rules Compendium】.”

“Please note: when writing a rule, you may directly select any rule you have already used and entered into the 【Rules Compendium】. You may also write a new rule based on the skills, traits, or plans of the instance BOSS or the horror creatures within the instance. However, the new rule may restrict player actions only; it may not restrict horror creatures from using their abilities.”

“To prevent you from writing rules recklessly, you will receive the relevant necessary prompts before each instance begins.”

Zhu Yan read it twice before he understood.

The BOSS ability Paradise had given him was truly designed to be the ultimate support ability.

Paradise had layered on restriction after restriction. Put simply, it did not want him limiting the other horror creatures, nor did it want him interfering with the expansion of contamination.

But Zhu Yan himself wanted to carve out territory and grow stronger!

He scanned the card several times, pondering the possibility of using a support skill as an offensive weapon.

“In the virtual instance, you used the false rule: 【This is a room you cannot leave without committing suicide】.”

“This rule has been recorded in the 【Rules Compendium】. This is your new BOSS benefit.”

“In addition, you may add only one instance rule at a time, but this ability permits you to replace or modify rules.”

“For example, when you believe that an added rule can no longer restrict player actions, you may delete that instance rule and write a new one.”

“Of course. Your rules can’t affect you personally.”

Zhu Yan understood.

For example, after restricting Jin Rongxu’s actions, using this dungeon’s boss to beat him black and blue…

he could kill Jin Rongxu himself, reap the benefits, and then replace the rule with 【This is a room you can’t leave without committing suicide】.

That rule placed no restrictions on the terrifying creature’s use of its abilities!

If it used its abilities on itself, that still counted as using them, didn’t it?

And if the terrifying creature happened to die, he might even be able to take over the entire West Suburbs Shelter and turn it into territory for the 【Weird Tale】.