“Chief, Baili Dao has submitted another resource application for a new recruit. It’s about that rookie with the ID ‘Pending Death’ again.”

Inside the Mingyang City Abnormal Affairs Bureau, the secretary delivered his report.

The man in charge waved a hand dismissively. “Reject it. The closed beta for the 【Spirit Calamity Game】 is over. There won’t be any more new players before the Open Beta. That blockhead Baili must have been tricked by someone using a disguise item.”

“We’ve already rejected him several times,” the secretary said with a helpless shrug. “You know what that blockhead is like. He’ll just keep applying.”

The person in charge was equally helpless. He had to admit that Baili Dao was incredibly stubborn about certain things. But as the head of the Mingyang City branch, he was responsible for a large number of players. With limited resources, he simply couldn’t allocate funds for such a vague and unbelievable claim.

Even if Baili Dao really had met a new player, what would it matter?

Considering the challenges the Abnormal Affairs Bureau currently faced, recruiting one more rookie was pointless. It would be better to save those resources for the bureau’s veterans.

“How about this?” the chief said jokingly. “Tell him that if this rookie is as amazing as he claims, he can clear a Nightmare-level Instance for me to see. As long as he can actually do it, I’ll give him as many resources as he wants.”

A rookie clearing a Nightmare-level Instance? He almost made himself laugh.

The odds of that happening were lower than winning the lottery, meeting the love of your life while claiming the prize, getting married, and then winning the lottery a second time on your anniversary.

It was just too absurd. A new player appearing after the closed beta ended? What a joke.

This was the wall Baili Dao hit on his first day back at the Abnormal Affairs Bureau after clearing 【Fight Back to School】. No one believed him.

They wouldn’t believe him unless Pending Death could actually tackle a Nightmare-level Instance. Clearing one would trigger a server-wide announcement from the game system, proving to everyone that he wasn’t lying.

Unfortunately, that day would never come.

Looking at the messages from Pending Death, who was asking about basic concepts like the classification of Instance levels, Baili Dao sighed and patiently continued to respond.

Three days passed in a flash.

“Pick it up! I told you to pick up the ear!”

Wu Wang expressionlessly chided Second Sister, who was sticking out her tongue and making a strange bleating sound.

She shrugged helplessly. “Oops, this pig ear fell on the floor. It’s dirty and inedible now. Your shirt is dirty too, isn’t it? Take it off, and I’ll wash it for you.”

“I can understand fumbling with chopsticks and dropping food on the floor.”

Wu Wang glanced down at his shirt, now stained with chili oil. Then he looked at the distance between them, which was more than half the length of the dining table.

His mouth twitched. “But what I can’t understand is how you managed to fling a pig ear from your chopsticks, all the way across the table, and onto my shirt. If that wasn’t on purpose, I’ll jump off the building right now.”

With that, he went back to his room and took off his shirt.

Click.

Under Second Sister’s stunned gaze, he locked the door. The rumbling sound of a small washing machine started up from within.

“My God! We’re brother and sister! You don’t even trust me that much? You secretly bought a small washing machine and hid it in your room? Just to stop me from taking your clothes?” Wu Xiaoyou said viciously.

But her face was simply too exquisite. Even when she deliberately put on a fierce expression, she still looked cute, almost charming.

Wu Wang’s voice came from the room.

“Trust? The day before yesterday, you took my clothes to a blind fortune teller under the overpass. You told him there was a second-rate fool in the family with mental problems who wanted to commit suicide every day, and you asked him to perform an exorcism. You got scammed out of two hundred yuan. You think I don’t know about that?”

He continued, “Which charlatan are you planning to find this time with my clothes?”

Hearing this, the fierce expression on Wu Xiaoyou’s face gradually faded, replaced by a look of slight shame and indignation.

She retorted, a little unconvinced, “Well, what else was I supposed to do? What if your desire to commit suicide wasn’t a psychological problem, but you being haunted? I had to at least try…”

As she spoke, she suddenly frowned.

A little confused, she said, “Wait a minute! How did you know about that? I never told you!”

The room was silent for about three seconds before Wu Wang’s proud voice emerged.

“Because I was the one disguised as that blind fortune teller. I’m the one who earned that two hundred yuan.”

“?”

Wu Xiaoyou’s chopsticks fell onto the dining table with a clatter. This time, she was genuinely too stunned to hold them.

The image of the blind fortune teller flashed through her mind. His trembling gait, his tattered robe, his dark complexion, and especially the long hair growing out of a black mole on his chin.

That could be achieved with makeup?

She abruptly stood up and started pounding on Wu Wang’s bedroom door with her fist.

“You goddamn bastard! That was your sister’s hard-earned money from a whole day’s work! Give it back!”

“Second Sister, do you know why the newly rich usually go broke so quickly?” Wu Wang said cheekily after opening the door. “All wealth that doesn’t match one’s intelligence will always find a way to flow back to the market.”

He pointed at the dishes on the table with his left hand while his right hand pressed against Wu Xiaoyou’s forehead, ignoring her powerless punches and kicks.

“You ate a portion of that two hundred yuan too,” he said. “I’m the one who buys groceries and cooks every day. Damn it, you could at least give me some money!”

At the mention of food, Wu Xiaoyou instantly deflated. It was the one thing she truly couldn’t refute. She was the kind of genius who could burn down the entire building if left unsupervised in the kitchen for half an hour.

When Wu Wang wasn’t home or was too busy to cook, she could only eat instant noodles. She was normally too stingy to order takeout, as the ten-yuan delivery fee was enough to kill her. The only times she spent money lavishly were for things like hiring a psychologist for Wu Wang or getting scammed by a fake exorcist.

“Alright, stop messing around. Hurry up and finish eating so you can go to work,” Wu Wang said, glancing at the time.

Seeing this, Wu Xiaoyou’s heart skipped a beat. She ran back to the dining table and began to wolf down her food, her cheeks puffing out like a hamster’s, afraid she wouldn’t be full before her shift.

Wu Wang shook his head. He turned and went back into his bedroom, pulling a shabby-looking Conical Hat from under his bed. As luck would have it, this was the very hat he had picked up before crossing the overpass on the day he posed as the blind fortune teller. It had even saved him some money.

Three days had passed. The Instance was ready.

“Let’s do this! Abyss God, activate!”

Pat.

The Conical Hat settled on his head. His vision plunged into darkness, and his bedroom distorted in the blink of an eye.

【Nightmare-level Solo Story Instance has been matched】

【Welcome to Yin Fate Village】

【Instance Name — Chronicle of the Desolate Village】

【Instance Introduction: This village has long resided deep in the mountains. Surrounded by peaks, travel is inconvenient, and there is little contact with the outside world. However, this has not affected the village’s prosperity. Everyone lives and works in peace, all thanks to our adherence to the rules passed down by our ancestors. The Yin Fate Saintess will protect us.】

【You are an unremarkable orphan in the village who has survived solely through the charity of the villagers.】

【Now, the Yin Fate Ritual is approaching, but the village is troubled by the search for a new Yin Fate Saintess. While strolling in the forest, you encounter an unconscious girl who has fallen down the mountain. Her eight characters of birth time happen to meet the requirements to serve as the Saintess. Your choice is…】

【Life or death, salvation or sin.】

【Everything is up to you; everything is bound by fate.】

【Main Quest: #%&&%#】

【Side Quest 1: Investigate the secrets of the village chief’s house.】

【Side Quest 2: Uncover the truth of the Yin Fate Ritual and find the real Yin Fate Saintess.】

【Side Quest 3: Resolve the supernatural incident at the Ancestral Hall and eliminate the ghost within.】

【Clearance Rewards: 2000 Calamity Coins, one Fine Quality equipment, one Skill Evolution Guidance Item, one Fine Quality consumable item.】

【Hidden Reward — Conditions unknown.】

【We wish you find a death of your own.】

This was the first time Wu Wang had ever seen such a long instance introduction. Combined with the side quests, it seemed this Yin Fate Village had more to it than met the eye. There were probably quite a few unspeakable secrets hidden within.

But the part that gave him the biggest headache was the main quest. Where was it?!

He looked down at the Red Vertical Pupil on the inside of his wrist and cursed. “I could handle you twisting my quest last time, but what’s the deal with censoring it now? I want the uncensored version, not a bunch of gibberish!”

The clearance rate for Nightmare-level Instances was already terrifyingly low. Now he didn’t even know the main quest. How was he supposed to play this?

Moreover, the clearance rewards were simply too generous. So generous that Wu Wang felt it was a trap. The 【Spirit Calamity Game】 wasn’t run by idiots. It wouldn’t just give away so much for free. This could only mean that the game considered the instance’s difficulty truly worthy of such lavish rewards.

“Hah, so you won’t give me the main quest? Not afraid I’ll just strangle that whatever-her-name-is Yin Fate Saintess the moment I see her? Fine! I’ll try threatening that in a bit!”

Wu Wang slowly opened his eyes, officially entering the instance.

The first thing that met his eyes was not the environment, but a young woman lying in front of him. Her appearance could no longer be described as merely beautiful.

She looked identical to Wu Xiaoyou. They were practically carved from the same mold.

The Red Vertical Pupil on his wrist blinked, as if asking why he hadn’t strangled her yet.

“Hiss…”

Wu Wang cleared his throat. “Then again, I don’t think we need to be in such a hurry. She probably has a lot of secrets. We should start from there.”

His moral bottom line had always been flexible. At his best, he could trample on laws and defy authority. At his worst, he could hide in a stinking ditch during a game of hide-and-seek.

As for eating his words, he was an expert.