Spread Out

Zhu Yan still remembered the warning he saw before initially entering the forum.

The gist of the warning was to never expose personal privacy.

Do not let anyone know anything about Carnival Paradise, or your identity as a player.

If this person had entered the forum, he must have seen this sentence.

Piqued with interest, he slowly scrolled through the chat history while getting out of bed to wash up.

The group owner was very excited: Holy crap, let me give you guys the details.

Carnival Paradise would eventually descend anyway. Theoretically, they did not even need to set up that warning about exposing privacy.

Zhu Yan thought of something and shook his head.

In his eyes, this warning seemed more like one of the few acts of kindness from Carnival Paradise.

If people like his aunt and younger brother could possess abilities as lethal as Complaining and Humiliation, it was easy to imagine that there must be even more overpowered abilities out there.

If someone had an ability like depriving others of their abilities or killing players to restore health, exposing personal information online would be practically a death wish.

Then there was the Hall of Mourning.

As everyone knew, you could withdraw money from this place as long as you brought a player's left hand—it didn't matter whose left hand it was.

In the early stages of Carnival Paradise's descent, when order was being frantically battered and yet to be rebuilt, there would inevitably be massive chaos.

Zhu Yan had no doubt that people driven to madness were entirely capable of forming groups to open accounts and then chopping off left hands.

After all, according to the pseudohumans in the Hall of Mourning, one needed to save up five thousand Bone Gold Coins, which was equivalent to five hundred thousand yuan, just to qualify to rent a place in the lowest-tier district, Bird Flock Street.

Moreover, these five thousand Bone Gold Coins could not be spent; they had to remain in the account.

A little thought made it clear that this would be a massive expense.

Zhu Yan finished washing up and casually combed his hair a couple of times.

After a disorganized, overly excited explanation, the group owner actually posted two photos in the group.

They were clearly pictures of a player badge and an ability card someone had received!

The photo of the ability card even showed the side with the text.

Zhu Yan took a look and marveled once again at the bizarre variety of human abilities.

This person's ability was actually called Slacking Off in Muddy Waters.

The ability description stated that because the person slacked off too much at work, they could use this method in thriller dungeons to avoid drawing the monsters' attention and safely freeload off the group's efforts.

After the pictures were sent, the chat group erupted in mockery.

Hahaha, this has got to be a prank by their boss.

I agree, the group owner is still young, don't take it too seriously.

The group owner argued back: No, absolutely not! Have you guys heard that a lot of people in Bailu City have died suddenly recently?

Rumor has it that those people failed to pass their dungeons!

Also, I am in Anwu City myself. A family of three living next door to my friend's place died suddenly last night too!

Zhu Yan could almost picture the group owner spitting all over the screen in his excitement.

This incident has been covered up. You cannot find anything about it online.

But I promise it is true. It happened at No. 178 Plum Blossom Garden. My friend said he heard crying last night.

They cried for about eight or nine minutes, and then it went dead silent.

It is true, Zhu Yan silently agreed.

Go check the news, Bailu City has already announced a lockdown.

Isn't that obvious enough?

A lockdown?

Zhu Yan exited the chat window and opened a news app to check the push notifications.

...It really was true.

Unlike the previous outbound checkpoints, this was a full, official lockdown. Nobody from the outside could go in, and nobody inside could come out.

The stated reason for the lockdown was a special epidemic, but no detailed explanation was provided.

The comment section of the trending topic had clearly been scrubbed. No one mentioned words like dungeon descent or Carnival Paradise.

There were only many unaware bystanders asking what kind of disease could cause sudden death, and why the specific details weren't being made public.

The group owner said: I just wanted to ask if any friends in Anwu City have received the same badge and ability card.

Yesterday, something happened at a big mall here, Wanxiang Plaza.

It was that cannibalism incident I just mentioned.

My friend said he saw videos in a WeChat group showing a gruesome scene, and I reckon it is because of this too.

The dungeons have descended.

Zhu Yan skipped past the group members' debates over whether he was truly crazy or just faking it, as well as their comments about giving up and waiting for death, and directly read the group owner's messages.

What happened to Wanxiang Plaza after that? He wanted to know too.

However, the group owner did not gossip about that and suddenly dragged the topic back.

So did anyone receive these things? Family?

Hehe, this is too thrilling. I want to reserve a teammate in advance.

DM me, let's exchange info and team up.

...Idiot.

He knew the group owner was about his age, but this behavior was incredibly stupid.

Zhu Yan exited the chat, straightened his clothes, and went downstairs with his phone to find food.

He had read the text messages sent from a few unknown numbers. They were all warnings from the police department, with no difference in content.

The police warning stated that citizens should avoid going to Wanxiang Plaza in the city center recently.

If citizens heard strange noises or received a small black envelope, they were to immediately report to the nearest police station.

Zhu Yan stood on the stairs and scrolled through his phone, but there was no other news besides that.

He wanted to search for news regarding what happened at Wanxiang Plaza yesterday, but the search term seemed to have been blocked; he couldn't find it anywhere.

Zhu Yan put away his phone and slowly walked out into the sunlight.

The summer afternoon sun was blistering.

Even on the streets of the old town, there was hardly anyone around at this hour.

At the entrance of a soup dumpling shop, a woman was briskly clearing steamer baskets while chatting with a man nearby.

...That video I saw, it scared the life out of me.

At first, I thought they were doing one of those cosplay events that young people like, over at Wanxiang Plaza...

Wanxiang Plaza?

Zhu Yan instantly caught the keyword.

He immediately walked into the shop and ordered a basket of soup dumplings and a bowl of wontons.

The woman wiped down the greasy plastic table and motioned for him to sit.

Then she turned around and, exactly as Zhu Yan had hoped, continued her conversation with the man.

Hey, let me show you. Look at this, on the basement level and the first floor, a whole bunch of people collapsed, blood everywhere...

The video's audio was playing on speaker. The person filming was a man with a panicked tone.

I don't know what is going on either. The police have cordoned off the place. Let me just give you guys a quick rundown.

Zhu Yan pricked up his ears.

He was one of the guys; he wanted to listen.

I was just here keeping my wife company, and then chaos suddenly broke out down here. A kid died.

The police came and took control, but then something bizarre happened. People suddenly rushed out of the coffee shop on the basement level and started eating people.

I didn't dare film the video. At least ten people rushed out, and they were really eating people.

Those must be the pseudohumans.

A dozen or so pseudohumans, eating people?

Did the staff from the Hall of Mourning come out for a snack?

Why were they so blatant about it?

Look at all this red on the floor, everyone...

The video ended there.

The woman clicked her tongue a few times and brought Zhu Yan a steaming basket of soup dumplings.

So tragic.

"It was absolutely terrifying, people getting ripped open and gutted," the man chimed in. "My older brother saw the video from the scene too."

"They said those things even bit a few cops. Bullets didn't phase them at all, and after eating people, they just holed up inside the coffee shop."

They went back to the Hall of Mourning.

Zhu Yan silently finished the thought in his head, suddenly curious if humanity could find the Hall of Mourning by digging deep enough into the earth.

He figured it was highly unlikely, considering the area right beneath the first basement level of Wanxiang Plaza was just a parking garage.

The Hall of Mourning seemed more like an overlapping space from a completely different dimension.

"The whole street is cordoned off now... There must be at least a few dozen dead."

Zhu Yan's bowl of wontons arrived.

The man and woman continued their endless, speculative chatter, but Zhu Yan had already lost interest in listening.

Sitting by the old air conditioner and the greasy table, he made sure there were no security cameras behind him. Then, with a subtle movement, he stared at the palm of his left hand for three seconds and entered the Player Personal Center.