Three Strikes Empty

"I'm sorry, I was a bit emotional just now."

The first sentence of the post was an apology. It seemed the girl had calmed down a bit.

"The time was too tight, and the dungeon's intensity was too high, so I had a bit of a breakdown."

"Let me tell everyone the rest of the details. Please help me, I really want to live."

Zhu Yan finished his meal.

He scanned the ordering QR code on the table, ordered two more baskets of soup dumplings to go, and continued reading the post.

"The witch's level is four, which exactly matches my ability level after the upgrade."

"There's no need to hide it anymore. I'll tell everyone, my ability is of the deception and brainwashing type. It can make those things believe me for ten minutes."

Zhu Yan silently marveled at how overpowered that was.

However, abilities were all generated based on a player's own innate talents.

So, didn't this mean the girl usually engaged in deceitful behavior in her daily life?

He couldn't help but think of the magic ritual mentioned in the previous post, and smiled meaningfully.

"My colleague's ability is also with me. This ability is useless; it's a slacking-off type."

Zhu Yan thought of the group owner on his phone; his cousin's ability was also a slacking-off type.

"What worries me is that, besides the witch, my mission also mentioned an 'it'."

"The mission didn't reveal its name, but it showed that its level is also four."

"What is it? Has anyone encountered this situation? I want to do another ritual to connect with another angel, but I don't dare."

Connect, connect, connect—connect with what?

Zhu Yan would actually laugh when he was extremely speechless.

It turned out this player had essentially sent herself straight to Carnival Paradise.

The post was only this long. In the comment section, aside from a few comments saying "I don't know" or "Haven't encountered this," there was one offering comfort.

"All I can say is, based on my experience, the level of a boss in the current closed beta dungeons generally won't exceed your own ability level."

"Even if it does, there will definitely be a weakness. It won't be a guaranteed death scenario right from the start."

"I've observed several people, and it's been the same for all of them. No exceptions."

That made sense. Zhu Yan quickly read further.

"Of course, if there are players in your dungeon with a higher ability level than yours, it might not be scaled to your level."

"At the very least, your current ability can fully cover it, and your ability isn't weak."

"Stay strong, player."

Zhu Yan thought of some details from Coexisting with Taboo Objects.

A Witch could converse with a Demon and act as a bridge of communication between Demons and humans.

A Demon could trade with humans, but it would take away the person's most precious thing.

The "it" in the player's mission was highly likely a Demon!

This way, everything added up.

The female player had directly performed some sort of "magic ritual." This action bypassed the Witch and made a request directly to the Demon.

Whether the Demon fulfilled this request or not was impossible to verify.

However, using this as an excuse, the Demon showed up at her door along with the Witch to collect payment.

In the comments section, the girl replied to the player who had given the advice.

"Okay. After the dungeon starts, I'll find time to post again and see if I can describe the situation. Can you help me?"

The player's reply was simple: "I can."

Zhu Yan returned to the homepage, intending to open the third post.

At this moment, the woman from the soup dumpling shop walked over, tied up a plastic bag containing two paper takeout boxes, and placed it in front of him.

"All packed up, two baskets." She smiled at Zhu Yan. "You can put them in the freezer and steam them another day when you want to eat them."

The post blocked part of Zhu Yan's vision.

He couldn't see the woman's face very clearly, but he still thanked her politely.

The woman turned and walked away, starting to mutter to the man again.

"Sigh, once my mother-in-law comes to take over for me, I'll hurry to the supermarket to stock up on some things."

"You have no idea how panicked my family is..."

Zhu Yan stood up from the table and walked out, carrying his two portions of food.

He didn't exit the player forum. Squinting, he observed the sunlit afternoon streets through the gaps in the red text.

Zhu Yan also needed to stock up, and his needs were greater than the average person's.

Because he truly knew that the future would be chaotic for a period of time, and during that period, food would inevitably be scarce.

However, Zhu Yan didn't dare to act like characters in novels, buying massive piles of things all at once or casually having hundreds of takeout meals delivered to his home.

For one thing, the police had already come to his door today, so there were bound to be plainclothes officers watching the area.

Secondly, even without plainclothes officers, such an eye-catching and conspicuous approach would easily make him a target.

But just now, judging from the tone of the soup dumpling shop woman, there should be quite a few people stocking up right now.

Under these circumstances, if Zhu Yan also went to stock up, even if he bought a bit more, it wouldn't attract any attention at all.

Zhu Yan took out his phone and searched for nearby large supermarkets.

Time was tight, and he didn't want to shop online and wait for deliveries.

As he walked toward the bus stop, he browsed the follow-up posted by the female player.

"The witch just arrived, bringing a black cat with her."

"She seems to be human. She looks very beautiful and has a very warm personality."

"After she arrived, she introduced herself, saying she was someone who had existed since the Middle Ages, and that girls should stick together. She also said she was very happy to see modern women living so well."

How could she really be that kind-hearted?

After all, in Coexisting with Taboo Objects, Witches had quite an appetite for humans.

And the humans here didn't specify whether they were men or women!

Seeing this, Zhu Yan's heart skipped a beat.

The Witch's tricks were considered quite common.

When he used burner accounts online to maliciously test others, he would also often emphasize a certain shared experience.

Then he would pretend to be the same kind of person who resonated with them, in order to quickly close the distance between them.

"I told her about 'it,' and she comforted me, saying she could handle it. She said I just made a connection error and accidentally connected to a demon."

Was it a connection error, or were there simply no angels in this world to begin with?

The bus at this hour was very empty.

Zhu Yan chose a window seat in the back row, ensuring the sunlight could fully wash over him.

With a thought, he secretly stored the food in his hands into his ring, then leisurely leaned back against the seat and continued reading the text in his field of vision.

"She told me to calm down, so I'm sitting on the sofa typing these words right now."

"She is rearranging my altar, explaining things as she sets it up... Her black cat is sniffing me..."

"She asked if I had a cat. She said she wanted a normal gray cat, and told me that where she comes from, cats all have red eyes, which are ugly, and their fur is unnaturally shiny."

This was probably some small talk the Witch was making to lower her guard.

It corroborated the fact from Coexisting with Taboo Objects that a Witch's cat is different from a normal cat.

"Her black cat makes me feel scared. She herself is very approachable, though. I took a picture and uploaded it."

Zhu Yan scrolled back to the top of the post to flip through the photos behind the cover.

The first photo was of the Witch setting up the altar. She looked like a very beautiful blonde woman in a white dress, except the stiff smile on her face seemed a bit eerie.

The second picture was of the black cat by the female player's feet. The cat was not skinny, but its shiny, sleek short fur clung tightly to its skin, and its dark red eyes were narrowed into half-moons, making it look like a giant black rat.

"What should I do? On one hand, I feel very safe, but on the other hand, I feel a vague sense of unease. Things couldn't possibly be this simple, right?"

"Oh, wait... she told me that what it chooses to take cannot be controlled; it is entirely up to it."

A few small garbled characters appeared after this line of text.

"She said she could help me put in a good word with it, but she requires some compensation."

"Huh? Her cat bit my leg. My thigh seems to have fallen off. I am sure my thigh fell off. But she promised she would talk to it."

The garbled text after this began to multiply, yet the girl's tone was far less agitated than in her first post.

"It... that voice appeared again. It said it wants to eat my... what? I didn't hear it clearly."

"Oh... but the cat just dragged away my other thigh."

"So sleepy. My neck feels like it is broken."

Zhu Yan cast his gaze downward, skimming over a large patch of garbled text, and finished reading the last sentence.

"I am awake. Help!... The system is prompting me that the mission has failed, and I only have ten minutes of survival time left."