That won't do

The arrival chime sounded. Zhu Yan slung his bag over his shoulder and moved toward the exit, wedged within the flow of people in the subway station.

It was full of students here, along with quite a few parents helping carry luggage.

The yellow and blue directional signs of the subway station glowed brightly. Several police officers stood on circular platforms on both sides of the passage to maintain order.

Messy whispers exploded in Zhu Yan's ears. Under high mental tension, he could only make out intermittent fragments.

"That badge is really terrifying. I suspect it's a highly volatile hallucinogenic poison."

"My son hasn't touched the badge yet. We thought we'd come over first..."

Zhu Yan twitched the corner of his mouth and subconsciously glanced twice in the direction of the voices.

It really wasn't a hallucinogenic poison; it was a fucking death notice.

The subway broadcast continuously played the police department's notice. In the chaotic environment, this serious male voice sounded more like distant background noise.

"All new students who have not yet entered the station, please prepare your ID documents and enter the station as soon as possible."

"Repeating..."

Zhu Yan gripped the ID card in his pocket, his palms sweaty from nervousness.

"Such a huge scene," he heard someone grumble next to him. "So many cops..."

Zhu Yan placed his backpack on the conveyor belt and showed his ID card to the police officer at the security checkpoint.

The card-checking machine beeped smoothly. The officer returned the card to him, completely unaware that Zhu Yan was the wanted criminal they were looking for.

"The Ability Card and the player badge have fused, right?" the officer asked routinely. Seeing Zhu Yan nod, he pointed to a conspicuous bulletin board with white characters on a blue background nearby.

"Go on the player forum and follow an account named Guan En."

Guan En. He could be considered his old partner.

Zhu Yan's brow twitched.

He turned his head to glance at the bulletin board and saw a few striking lines of instructions.

"The player account Guan En is the official account of the Anwu City Police Department."

"Please be sure to follow it. The police department will post instance-related clues on this account."

Oh, it seems this guy is doing quite well for himself.

Zhu Yan didn't think much more about it.

He grabbed his backpack and followed the noisy crowd toward the main gate of Anwu North Station.

There were many people here. The clamor was about to pierce the sky, as chaotic as the eve of the apocalypse.

Crying, noise, and arguing mixed together, blasting Zhu Yan's ears until they hurt.

Fully armed police officers holding firearms stood in front of the spacious main gate. They held up transparent shields, guarding the bright yellow police line behind them.

They worked together to block the parents outside the police line. An officer holding a megaphone shouted loudly.

"No entry! Parents are strictly not allowed to enter!"

"Do not stop your children from entering! New students who have arrived must participate in the event!"

Zhu Yan struggled to squeeze to the very front of the crowd, shouting with effort, "I am a student! Let me through!"

The parents' roars and arguments almost drowned out his voice.

A police officer reached out and accurately grabbed Zhu Yan.

"You're a student too, right?" The officer dragged Zhu Yan inside the police line. Zhu Yan heard him loudly ask a boy behind him, "Come! The instance is about to begin. You must come in!"

Zhu Yan turned his head and saw that boy reaching out his hand in the crowd.

However, an angry roar interrupted his movement—

"Enough! I've had enough of your police department's inaction!"

It was the boy's father.

"Must come in?! What is that supposed to mean!"

The man's volume was so loud that the surroundings actually quieted down for a moment.

Zhu Yan retreated inside the glass doors. Beside him stood a crowd of students who had come to participate in the instance.

Many people were clearly also attracted by this farce and were looking outward curiously.

"Excuse me." A familiar voice spoke by Zhu Yan's ear, while a force hurriedly shoved him to the side.

It was actually Guan En—

He was pushing through the students with considerable effort and soon rushed to the front of the police line.

Zhu Yan stared at Guan En's back. One of his eyebrows unconsciously raised, and he vigilantly stepped back half a pace.

Guan En was joining the fun of this instance too?

Could he even get in?

"Parents, please calm down!" Guan En shouted loudly. "Your children—"

He raised his left hand, showing the crowd outside the caged bird player mark on his palm.

"—must stay here!"

"I am a police officer, and also a player! The instance is closely related to your children's lives!"

"We are doing our best to protect them. Please do not cause trouble!"

This blunt revelation was as sharp as a knife, bloodily slicing away the male parent's remaining sense of security.

Less than 5 meters away from Zhu Yan, the man's face flushed bright red.

He grabbed his son's arm, raised his own right hand high, and showed this gesture to the officers in front of the police line.

"Fuck all of you!"

"Must stay here?!"

"I'm putting my foot down! Nobody is taking my son away today! Are you colluding with the mob to traffic people?!"

The man's words and actions clearly shocked some of the other parents. A few seconds later, female voices chimed in agreement. Zhu Yan saw that some people had also grabbed their own children's wrists.

There were also some players who had come alone. Hearing the man say this, their steps toward the police line noticeably hesitated.

Zhu Yan looked down at the time on his phone. Eight fifty-seven.

The instance was about to begin, yet the man still hadn't let go of his son's wrist, glaring at the people from the police department.

"Didn't you say the instance would pull people in?"

"Fine, I'm right here now. Let me enter this station too. I want to see what kind of instance this is!"

The crowd outside erupted into a buzz.

The crowd protested and pressed toward the police line. The officers had no choice but to defend strictly, erecting a partition wall with their shields.

"Players who haven't come in yet, hurry up and enter!" Guan En shouted, his voice tearing. "Unrelated personnel do not enter the station! Parents, absolutely do not enter the station!"

Zhu Yan understood that the police department was demanding this in order to avoid hurting the innocent as much as possible.

On the phone screen glowing with blue light, the time had already jumped to eight fifty-nine.

The next second, a familiar female voice suddenly exploded by his ear. The surrounding light abruptly dimmed, and the space inside the station seemed to be dragged into the night in an instant.

"Welcome, everyone, to the entrance exam!"

This voice could clearly be heard by more than just Zhu Yan alone.

A few belated screams rang out inside the station. The players stirred in commotion, and Zhu Yan was squeezed hard.

He steadied himself and raised his head to look outside the glass doors.

In just a few short seconds, it seemed to already be another world out there.

The crowd outside was no longer pressing forward. They were staring blankly and in shock at the location where the players were, as if they had seen some unbelievable sight.

Their voices had completely disappeared—

Someone pointed in their direction and screamed loudly, but the glass doors cut off all the noise. The exaggerated movements and expressions made this person look like a clown performing a pantomime.

"There is a little hint to give everyone!" the female voice said excitedly.

"Please watch closely!"

Zhu Yan heard his own nervous breathing and thumping heart.

Watch closely.

He looked out the door. Above the crowd's heads was brilliant sunlight.

Sunlight scrambled to squeeze past the glass doors, but only a few rays managed to pierce the darkness they were trapped in, forming thin pillars of light above Zhu Yan's head.

Just then, an arm thrust straight up from the stagnant crowd, sending ripples through the onlookers.

The palm stiffly unfurled, displaying the caged bird to the players behind the glass windows.

However, the wrist was caught in a death grip by an older hand. Zhu Yan squinted and realized it was the hand of the parent who had caused a scene earlier!

His pupils shrank slightly, and his heart skipped a beat.

Something was wrong!

The movement was abrupt, mechanical, and stiff, reminding Zhu Yan of the dolls behind the counter in the Hall of Mourning.

The next instant, the crowd outside the glass doors was torn apart.

Dragging the father who was still gripping him tightly, the young player broke through the shield wall in a near-insane frenzy, throwing his body against the warning line.

The father turned his head to glare at him angrily, trying in vain to drag the boy back.

But the boy's arm remained held high, and the player mark on his palm began to fester and rot at a visible rate.

His flesh melted like ice cream in the sun—

Starting from the palm, chunks of scarlet skin and fat peeled away, sloughing down their arms and staining both of their clothes red.

Under the father's horrified gaze, the rot spread rapidly across the body, neck, and head...

Zhu Yan watched as the crowd screamed silently, scrambling away in all directions.

Yet an exaggerated smile stretched across the boy's partially melted face.

As his lips liquified, the curve of his smile became even more terrifying.

Zhu Yan unconsciously widened his eyes.

The spine, with chunks of flesh and bone still clinging to it, was snagged by the warning line, yet it continued to mechanically lurch forward.

In the final moment, as the last of its muscles and flesh completely peeled away, it lunged violently at the glass door.

Splat.

Accompanied by a faint, muffled thud, a scarlet firework exploded across the glass.

A female voice began to giggle merrily.

"See now? Listening to your parents—"

"Is simply not allowed!"